Romania’s Bacau to modernize street lighting with EUR 11 million loan

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Green Energy Special Fund (GESF) are providing a EUR 11 million loan to the Romanian city of Bacau to modernize street lighting, according to a news release from the EBRD.

Bacau is a medium-sized city in Romania with a population of almost 200,000. The investment plan includes the installation of LED technology on 60 streets in priority areas of the city center, covering up to 40 kilometers. The new lights will make the areas safer and cut energy usage and CO2 emissions by 50%, the news release reads.

The project will replace mercury bulbs with energy efficient LED lights, upgrade old lighting poles, and develop an underground network of cables, the EBRD said, noting that this will allow for the removal of old aerial cables.

The introduction of more efficient lighting will also benefit the city economically, according to the Bank. It is expected that the new lamps will halve the current lighting electricity costs, as well as reduce maintenance and operational costs by more than a quarter, the news release reads.

The lighting project in Bacau is part of the EBRD Street Lighting Framework, which is also funding energy efficient LED lighting in Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo*, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

The EBRD is also engaged in Bacau by financing, together with the European Union (EU), the upgrading of the regional water and waste management systems.

GESF is a fund established by TaiwanICDF at the EBRD to support beneficiary countries in the Bank’s regions as they make the transition to low-carbon energy solutions, as well as to promote energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy.

Since the EBRD started operations in Romania, the Bank has invested over EUR 8 billion in more than 400 projects in the country, the EBRD said.