First LEDs arrive in historic bundling investment

LED street lights arrive in Argentinian municipalities using an innovative business model developed by UNEP DTU Partnership

November 26, 2020

This month, LED street lights started to arrive in nine municipalities in Argentina, a result of a new bundling of investments in energy efficiency at local level throughout the country.

The nine municipalities are part of the Argentinean Network of Municipalities Against Climate Change (RAMCC), which entered into a historical agreement to purchase LED luminaires to replace conventional street lighting bulbs through a trust fund in early 2020.

The establishment of the trust fund and bundling of energy efficiency projects are a direct outcome of the “project bundling”, approach that the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency, an integral part of UNEP DTU Partnership, has developed to scale up energy efficiency project implementation.

An effective tool

Showing concrete results in Argentina, a country currently experiencing a difficult financial environment, during a pandemic affecting financial possibilities worldwide, the bundling approach is proving to be an effective tool to leverage green investments.

The nine municipalities are now considering broadening the scope of the model and using it to invest further in energy efficient lighting equipment as well as for other renewable energy equipment.

A total of 32 Argentinian municipalities, all members of RAMCC, have joined the trust fund based on the bundling approach, and thus energy efficient lighting and other green investments are due to be rolled out in larger scale across the country.

The Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency has not only supported the development of the bundling business model, but has supported RAMCC’s members conducting pre-feasibility studies for energy efficiency project development in street lighting.