Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Cape Verdean government estimates it will save an additional €1.2 million per year with the final phase of modernizing all of the archipelago’s public lighting to LED technology, which was awarded today, the prime minister announced.
“It’s a huge investment that will be recouped in about two and a half years: we’re talking about 2.9 million euros and the savings it generates are 1.2 million euros” per year, with “profits that will be replicated in the future,” said Ulisses Correia e Silva, during the presentation at the Government Palace, in Praia.
The project is part of the energy transition strategy of the country of 500,000 inhabitants, which aims to move away from fossil fuel electricity production and reach 50% of electricity generation from renewable sources by 2030.
In addition to ongoing investments in wind, solar, and storage systems, the aim is to help achieve the goal by also increasing efficiency on the consumption side.
LED technology already equips about a third of Cape Verde’s 53,000 public lighting poles, and today’s award concerns the remaining 70%, completing the replacement of obsolete sodium vapor, mercury, or fluorescent lamps.
The lighting will be improved, will consume less electricity and will have a longer useful life, increasing from five to 16 years.
All together, it helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
There will be a “contribution to environmental climate action” in addition to other effects, the Prime Minister said, highlighting the reduction in fuel imports, “in which the country spends a lot of foreign currency to acquire what it needs to produce energy”, but also in the daily lives of the population, allowing “more peace of mind, more security and quality of life” in several places.
A recent legislative change meant consumers no longer had to pay for public lighting, a cost passed on to city halls, which in turn were compensated to cover the expense, he added.
“The goal is clear: to achieve 100% LED and reinforced street lighting throughout Brazil by early next year. This is a shift in progress (…) to build a more sustainable future for our country,” concluded the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Energy, Alexandre Monteiro, at the same ceremony.
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