Por Redaccion The Avilés City Council secures funding to modernize public lighting throughout the city
June 30, 2025
The IDAE, Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving, has granted the Avilés City Council a grant of 8,518,701.16 euros to modernize its public lighting. This amount corresponds to the project submitted by the city to the second call for grants launched by the state agency for the renovation of municipal outdoor lighting installations, and whose provisional resolution was made public last Friday.
Thanks to this grant, Avilés will replace 7,470 LED luminaires and install remote management in all lighting points in the city, resulting in a 60% reduction in energy consumption, with an estimated annual saving of over half a million euros on the energy bill (532,460.98 euros).
Pelayo García, Councilor for Urban Services, emphasized that «this significant investment that we will face in the coming years will bring about a change in the entire public lighting system of the city. Regardless of where you live, this service will be implemented on equal terms.»
He also thanked the Deputy Directorate of Technical Services in Innovation, Sustainability, and Energy, who handled everything with the city’s own resources in drafting this report and will define the management of public lighting and this comprehensive renovation throughout the municipal area in the coming years.
Implementation
Pelayo García explains the implementation of the project: «We highly value that this resolution has been favorable to the report presented by the Avilés City Council for the renewal and modernization of lighting in the municipal area of Avilés. This means that we will have the 8.5 million euros we requested in the report available, and I also want to highlight that the quality of the report was taken into account by the IDAE, placing us at the top of the table in terms of the score obtained.
«This will allow us to renew public lighting, its remote management, a much more efficient management of this municipal service, and at the same time, an issue that we had very present in the definition of this report from the municipal government, ensuring that no neighborhood or area is left behind.
«The remote management and systems guarantee control of each lighting point, and at the same time will allow us to improve lighting management, establish different intensities based on the presence of people, vehicles, pedestrians, time of day, weather conditions. Therefore, we are taking a very important step towards a digital city in the coming years.
«As for the project, it also includes an important part for the renewal of the lamp supports, those that are deteriorated and will be replaced by fiber ones like the ones we have already installed in the latest developments, around Plaza de la Merced, Pedro Menéndez, and even in Santiago López or in the new parking lots, even on Calle de la Paz, which have much higher performance and are less sensitive to dog urine.
«This is a provisional resolution that must become definitive by the IDAE. The next step will be to define a clear project for the implementation of the public lighting remote management program, and subsequently, to tender the work for the installation of both sensors and new luminaires, new lampposts, and other elements that will constitute this change.»
Timeline
The councilor sets out the deadlines: «The timeline for everything to materialize and for us to see this change in our streets is about 2 years, 2 and a half years, and the availability of credit to make the hirings will be specified at the moment when we have awarded the execution work.
«Therefore, the forecast we are handling is to define the implementation project by the end of the year and once we have it, to tender the work with different lots based on specific elements or actions.
«A city project
García emphasizes the significance for Avilés: «What does this important project mean for our city? In the end, as we always value, it is about having a clear city project, knowing where we are going, and in a City Council where resources are limited, having the tools or making them available to the citizens. And thus ensuring equal opportunities in accessing services.
«That is why not only the political will, which undoubtedly exists, for the transformation of our city, for change and for improving the quality of life of our citizens is so important, but also that technical support that clearly defines that political will and allows us to make projects like this a reality. So, I reiterate my thanks to the municipal staff who participated in the definition of this report and who will be involved in drafting and defining the project, both in implementation and execution.»
FUENTE