Tunis: Public lighting accounts for 80% of total municipality energy consumption, President of the General Authority for Prospecting and Supporting Decentralisation (French: IGPAPD) Habib Khelifi said.

The audit showed over 730,000 lighting poles had been put in place, he added.

The results of the overall energy audit that covered 350 municipalities will help ease the energy subsidy burden in the State budget, the official told TAP on the sidlines of the National Conference on the Role of Local Authorities in the Implementation of the National Energy Transition Strategy.

Tunisia annualy earmarks nearly TND 4 billion for energy subsidies, he added. The achievement of energy-saving projects will impact the energy consumption cost.

Reducing the energy consumption cost will also have a positive impact on local, regional and national development.

Municipal energy assessment in Tunisia is the first step on the pathway to national energy mapping which determines energy intensive sectors.

There is need to condu
ct the audit operation in municipalties by State agencies and institutions so as to conduct an overall energy consumption diagnosis, he said.

There are trials for the use of renewable energies in buildings in almost 12 municipalities, in addition to a pilot experiment in electricity saving in public lighting in the municipalit of Chihia, Sfax.

This pilot experiment, which has yielded positive results, is based on the direct connection of the public lighting network to the Tunisian Electricity and Gas Company (French: STEG).

At the opening of the conference, which was attended by representatives of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Khelifi also discussed the issue of undocumented migrants in Tunisia and the relevant European approach.

Director of Cooperation at the Swiss Embassy to Tunisia Fabrizio Poretti said his countrys is a partner of Tunisia and will continue to provide support. The Alliance of Local Councils for Energy Transition (French: ACTE) project is funded by the Swiss St
ate Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

The assessment presented at this conference, following the launch of the ACTE project five years ago, will lead to the development of a strategy in this field, he added.

Poretti said the introduction of energy-efficient equipment needs to go through the development of the capacities of 10 or 15 municipalities not by equipping these municipalities (350) with energy-saving equipment.

ACTE is consistent with Switzerland’s energy transition policy guidelines, he further said. Support lent to Tunisia in this area is the result of the presence of an incentive-based framework for energy transition.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse