Torrevieja lighting plan to save 1.5 million

THIS WEEK Torrevieja’s Mayor Eduardo Dolon announced that he hopes that the City can save upwards of 1.5€ million euros due to better energy efficiency in lighting public street lighting. Accompanied by Councillor for Works and Services, Javier Montoro, he reported that data provided by the team of external auditors that were engaged in December 2012, was very positive and showed that only in the first sector that has been tested, in Sector 9, Los Altos- Los Balcones, the saving on energy consumption totaled 46,194€. Eduardo Dolon explained that the municipality of Torrevieja is divided into ten sectors or areas, which have already had a study done in the last month.

Thus, with the saving measures put into place, the council expects to be able to reduce energy consumption and achieve savings of more than 500,000€ per year in street lighting. The measures that have already been launched in sector 9, include the implementation of astronomical clocks, elimination of duplicate lights, special LED lights that saves over 60% in the early morning hours, as well as the drop in intensity or to turn off the lights in parks and gardens when they are closed to the public.

Javier Montoro emphasized that even with these saving measures in place that the grid will continue maintaining the uniformity of street lighting and at no time, will the street lights be turned off at certain times, as is happening in some other municipalities, to reduce consumption. Montoro noted that the redevelopment of the District of San Roque and New Torrevieja includes the installation of LED type lights, which save up to 60% of energy consumption. The intention of the City of Torrevieja is that over the years, all city streetlights have this type of lighting.

The mayor reported that the audit on energy efficiency will determine the next specification for the award of the new contract for public lighting and municipal buildings in the city of Torrevieja. The Tender will stipulate that energy costs will be assumed by the contractor. It is expected that once the new contract is awarded and with these measures in place, annual savings of 1,500,000€ will be achievable.

Torrevieja currently has a total of 18,000 street lights, and the annual budget for street lighting and the municipal buildings amounts to 3.3 million euros.