Benidorm begins the procedures to install photovoltaic panels in 12 schools and public buildings

Benidorm City Council has begun the procedures to develop the project that provides for the installation of photovoltaic panels in eight Infant and Primary Education schools and four municipal buildings to reduce CO2 emissions. This project "has a European funding grant of 520,000 euros granted to the City Council by the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy (IDAE), dependent on the Ministry of Ecological Transition", as recalled by the mayor, Toni Pérez. With this grant, 48% of the cost of the project is covered, which represents a global investment of 1,045,450.06 euros, with the City  Council assuming the remaining 52%.

The mayor explained that the Local Government Board (JGL) “today has begun the process to contract the drafting of the installation projects for these photovoltaic panels in each of the 12 public buildings, for an amount of just over 62,000 euros ”.

Toni Pérez has detailed that the photovoltaic panels for self-consumption will be installed in CEIP Ausiàs March, Bautista Lledó, La Cala, Mestre Gaspar López, Miguel Hérnandez, Sierra Helada, Vasco Núñez de Balboa and Els Tolls; as well as in the Municipal Infant School Les Fontanelles. In addition, modules will also be implemented in La Torreta Social Center, Palau d'Esports l’Illa –thus multiplying the existing ones- and the Drinking Water Treatment Station (ETAP).

The mayor has stressed that “this project reaffirms our commitment to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals; or what is the same, with sustainability, in this case, through the use of renewable energies and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions ”. “We are talking that once the installation of the 1,363 photovoltaic panels is completed in the 12 buildings indicated, we will be able to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 375 tons per year, a very important figure that is added to the reduction in emissions obtained in other actions already developed or to be implemented in the short and medium term ”, he underlined.

The installation of these photovoltaic panels will be carried out progressively and will be completed throughout 2022. The municipal budget for this year includes an investment of 522,770.53 euros, the same amount that will be allocated in the following year.

The mayor highlighted that in addition to the subsidy for this project, Benidorm has received another from IDAE, also linked to European funds, within the framework of the ERDF 2014-2020 Sustainable Growth operational program. It is a subsidy of 3,007,289.28 euros, which will be invested in improving the energy efficiency of more than 50% of the city's public lighting.