Vila nova de Gaia’s ambitions boosted by ELENA financing

by Floriane Bernardot on 17 May 2011 / 131 visites

Back in April 2009, the Portuguese municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia signed the Covenant of Mayors with the objective of reducing GHG emissions by at least 25% by 2020 (compared to 2005 levels).

In order to support the implementation of the measures included in its Sustainable Energy Action Plan, several options were explored, including ELENA – the European Local Energy Assistance facility.

ELENA allows the municipality to:

Carry out several feasibility studies to evaluate the technical and economic viability of different technological solutions in sustainable energy projects.
Set up a qualified ‘ELENA team’ within the municipality and sub-contract external experts who will provide technical, legal and contractual support.
The ELENA team, with the support of ESCO experts, will be responsible for preparing the tendering procedures, contractual agreements and investment programme implementation (estimated at €73.4 million).

Vila Nova de Gaia has been a member of Energy Cities since 2009.

Read this article and many more in the Energy Cities INFO magazine (n.39, April 2011), that can be leafed through here.