South Africa’s Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings & Infrastructure Programme (EEPBIP) has taken its first energy performance contracting project to tender using a smart streetlighting retrofit at the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ) to test the financing model.
The project covers the replacement of approximately 415 high-pressure sodium streetlights with LED luminaires, IoT-enabled controls and a central management system for monitoring, managing and optimising the lighting network.
Under the contracting model, an energy services company will finance and implement the retrofit and recover its investment from the resulting energy savings. This will allow the ELIDZ to proceed without providing the project’s full capital cost upfront, according to the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI).
The tender was published after technical and financial due diligence by the ELIDZ and SANEDI’s Energy Efficiency Project Support Unit.
“This milestone provides a blueprint that can be replicated across other public sector institutions,” SANEDI said.
The model could be applied to efficiency retrofits involving public buildings, lighting networks and water and wastewater facilities.
The EEPBIP is being implemented by the Department of Electricity and Energy, SANEDI, the National Business Initiative and GIZ with funding from the Mitigation Action Facility. Further information is available on the EEPBIP website.
