A public private partnership in Chile will supply schools with green energy while setting out to prove that there is a business case in investments in sustainable energy in public institutions.
The 31st of January 2018 the Chilean initiative for local energy investments (Concurso de Implementación de Proyectos de Inversión Energética Local) announced that five local communities had been chosen to receive funding for energy efficiency projects.
Among those is a project to install solar panels and LED lighting in six schools in the municipality of Peñalolén in the Metropolitan region of Chile. The basis for this project was created by UNEP DTU in partnership with Chilean consultancy, EBP, as part of the ADMIRE programme.
ADMIRE seeks to strengthen climate adaptation and mitigation through the private sector by developing business cases for the implementation of sustainable technology. In Chile, ADMIRE, which is funded by Danish aid agency Danida, has focused on creating a business case for the investment in green energy and energy efficiency in public schools.
Schools producing their own energy in a clean and efficient way
By partnering with Chilean consultancy, EBP, UNEP DTU has been part of developing a business plan where schools, after installing solar panels and LED lighting, use the savings from producing their own power and spending less to pay off the investment.
The six schools form a pilot project with the aim of showcasing that climate mitigation can be a good investment for the private sector, and with the intention to scale it up on a national level.
The mayor of Peñalolén, Carolina Leitao, points to the fact that the project fits very well in a municipality that has been pioneering energy efficiency.
“We are proud to be awarded an investment in a project for six schools in the district, that, in the medium term, will have their own energy, in a clean and efficient way. We appreciate the public-private partnership between the Ministry of Energy, Enel and EBP consultancy,” she says to the Chilean Ministry of Energy.
Investments from both public and private sector
A total of 611 million Chilean Pesos is invested in the five projects, which is the equivalent of just above 1 million USD. The initiative is financed by the Strategic Investment Fund (FIE) of the Chilean Ministry of Economy, and is carried out by the ‘Comuna Energética’ program of the Ministry of Energy and the Chilean Energy Efficiency Agency (AChEE).
For the five projects 341 million pesos comes from public funds, whereas the remaining 270 million pesos is investments from the private sector. The beneficiaries will implement initiatives related to local generation of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures (EE), that are created in cooperation with citizens and private actors.
“The program ‘Comuna Energética’ has been a true symbol of our administration, and how it has understood the enormous importance that citizens and local governments play in the planning of energy development. The projects now ‘depart’ from the communities, taking into account their nature, the conditions of their lives and their people,” Chilean Minister of Energy, Andrés Rebolledo, says.