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CITYnvest

CITYnvest - 22.12.2016

Agueda: a Portuguese city innovating for energy efficiency
This interview was initially published on CITYnvest.eu.

Agueda is a city in north-western Portugal, which has around 50,000 inhabitants. It has recently found innovative ways to be energy-efficient. Experts from CITYnvest, a local energy efficiency project launched by CEMR and other partners, intervewed Agueda’s Head of Environment and Sustainable Development, Célia Morais Laranjeira, to find out more:

Can you shortly describe the project where you applied the innovative financing models? What financing instruments did you use?

Águeda is a small but one of the most industrialized cities in Portugal. It used to be infamous for being polluted, however now it is recognized as one of the most sustainable cities in the country. We decided to develop a revolving fund for energy and water efficiency. This fund was established in order to finance municipal initiatives thus it is not accessible for private entities or individuals. Through this fund, we support various departments of our municipality in carrying out renovations of buildings that are owned by them. The fund helps to retrofit schools, libraries, stadiums and other municipal buildings. However, not all refurbishments can be covered by this revolving fund, only the parts of investments that are related to energy or water efficiency. Let’s imagine that you want to retrofit a school and the project includes implementing micro-generation units and changing pavement in front of the school. Our revolving fund will finance only one part of the project: the micro generation units but not the renovation of the pavement.

How did the idea of developing a revolving fund come to you?

Well, Águeda was kind of chosen. We are one of the partner cities of the Infinite Solutions project and we were responsible for developing a revolving fund.

How useful do you find the innovative financing instruments? What advantages can you see?

The revolving fund helps to implement the renovation projects sooner than it would have happened if the fund did not exist. In Águeda, we understand the importance of implementing energy efficiency measures but sometimes it is not easy to demonstrate to the public that thanks to those investments we can really save money. The revolving fund can publicly demonstrate that by implementing energy efficiency measures, we are making savings and that is an additional benefit of this financing instrument.

What were the biggest problems in the implementation of the innovative financing models in your municipality?

We still are experiencing some difficulties. The first one was related to developing regulations for the fund. We got inspired by our partners from other European countries but they function in different realities and legislative frameworks. We had to adapt their experiences to our Portuguese reality and develop regulations that would be in line with the Portuguese law. Also receiving approval for those regulations from the city council and the city assembly was a long process.  

How do you evaluate the whole experience?

There were some difficulties, the development of a revolving fund is not a piece of cake. However, the benefits of this fund in Águeda are significant and allow us to realise our policy goals.

More information about the project carried out in Águeda can be found on the website.
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