384 million lei program to finance LED efficient lighting in localities

The Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests launches this year, through the Administration of the Environment Fund (AFM), a program for ecological and efficient LED lighting in the cities and communes of Romania. 

The program is multiannual, and the budget set for 2020 is 384 million lei. Through this program, the localities in Romania will be able to replace the high-energy consuming lighting systems with LED lighting. At the same time, administrations will be able to purchase dimming / remote management systems, which allow the regulation of the luminous flux.

According to the program, the localities with up to 4000 inhabitants can receive up to 500,000 lei for such a project, while those with more than 4000 inhabitants can access through AFM the amount of 1,000,000 lei.

"In the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, we want some of the AFM funds to enter the Romanian economy directly through programs that support it. The street lighting program will reduce electricity consumption in each city in Romania by up to 40%. In this way, beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we will also achieve a consistent decrease in local and national electricity bills. Today, more than 20% of the total electricity consumption of a locality comes from street lighting. However, these figures also support a continuous source of pollution with high CO2 emissions and high costs for local governments. The budget allocated for 2020 will allow about 700 localities in Romania to start these investments and benefit from a financial support of maximum 90% for energy efficiency projects of public lighting ”, said Costel ALEXE, Minister of Environment, Water and Forests.

The Financing Guide of the program will be submitted, starting April 9,2020 to public consultation. After the end of this period, all the observations and proposals received will be analyzed, and the final version of the financing guide will be published in the Official Gazette of Romania. After the publication of the guide, the financing session will be organized, and the UATs will be able to submit the documentation, in order to participate in the program.