The Mayor of London’s Energy Efficiency Fund (‘MEEF’), managed by Amber Fund Management Limited, has provided over £11 million to Royal Borough of Greenwich (‘the Council’) to finance the upgrade of c.17,800 street lights with LEDs and the replacement of c.2,500 street lighting columns. The LED upgrade is forecast to save the Council 6,770,589 kWh per year, reducing the Council’s street lighting energy consumption by 74% and the Council’s CO2 consumption by 2,380 tonnes per annum.
The Council has forecast that the LED replacement will save the Council c£990,000 per year in energy costs and reduce its street lighting maintenance budget by £186,000 per annum due to the greater reliability provided by LEDs, saving the Council more than £1 million per year. The LED upgrade will also help to support jobs and skills in the Council.
MEEF has provided competitive and flexible, long-term finance to the Council, enabling it to accelerate the rollout of the streetlighting across the borough, one of the initiatives being undertaken to make the borough cleaner and greener, supporting the Council’s Climate Emergency declaration. MEEF’s funding to the Council includes funding from Santander UK as well as the Mayor of London and Amber.
This is MEEF’s second investment lending to a Local Authority for an LED street lighting upgrade, having previously financed the London Borough Richmond Street Lighting LED upgrade.
MEEF continues to target London’s public and SME sectors to support London’s Green Recovery by tackling climate change and air pollution across London. As of July 2021, MEEF has invested £73 million and leveraged approximately £191 million of additional public or private sector funding, saved 38 million kWh of energy, delivered 28 MW of renewables and saved 15,000 tonnes of CO2.
Cllr Sarah Merrill, Cabinet Member for Environment, Sustainability and Transport, said: “Upgrading the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s street lights with LEDs is part of our commitment to tackling the Climate Emergency and reaching our ambitious target of net zero carbon emissions by 2030. The carbon savings for the borough will be the equivalent of driving a medium sized car from Greenwich to Edinburgh and back 10,000 times. Not only are the LED lights better for the environment, but they reduce light pollution, deliver best value for money and can make streets feel safer.”
Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Shirley Rodrigues said: “It’s great to see another project delivering action on the climate emergency made possible through the Mayor of London’s Energy Efficiency Fund. The Royal Borough of Greenwich is demonstrating that upgrading to LED lighting is a win-win for cutting carbon emissions, making significant cost savings and supporting green jobs in the borough. The project is also an inspiration for other boroughs looking at options to reduce their emissions in line with the Mayor’s target for London to be net zero by 2030.”
Jo Patrick, Head of Sustainable Energy at Amber Infrastructure: “We are extremely pleased that MEEF is involved in the funding of this key project in Royal Greenwich given its strong green credentials and the improvements it will make to better lit streets across the Borough.”
Mark Cumbo, Director, Specialised & Project Finance, Santander UK, said: “We are delighted to provide funding to support the Council’s actions to reduce both energy costs and CO2 generation. This transaction is a tangible example of Santander’s ambition to support our clients to tackle climate change and enable the transition to a greener economy.”
Please contact MEEF (meefinfo@amberinfrastructure.com) to discuss a potential application further.
Further information on MEEF can be found at: www.meef.co.uk
Further information on Amber Infrastructure can be found at: www.amberinfrastructure.com
ABOUT MEEF:
MEEF was established by the GLA in 2018 and is managed by Amber Infrastructure. MEEF provides a mixture of senior debt, mezzanine debt and equity to London’s public-sector property owners and small-to-medium-sized businesses, including but not exclusively, Local Authorities, NHS Trusts, Registered Providers, Higher and Further Education organisations, Charities and Voluntary Organisations, ESCOs and SMEs. MEEF can fund both up to 100 per cent of the capital cost of a project and part-fund large-scale regeneration projects which demonstrate low-carbon credentials.
ABOUT AMBER INFRASTRUCTURE GROUP
Amber Infrastructure (‘Amber’) is a specialist international investment manager, focused on investment origination, asset management and fund management. Amber’s core business focuses on sourcing, developing, advising, investing in and managing infrastructure assets across the public, transport, energy, digital and demographic infrastructure sectors that support the lives of people, homes and businesses internationally.
Amber is headquartered in London with offices in Europe, North America and Australia and employs over 150 infrastructure professionals.
ABOUT EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND
MEEF is receiving up to £51.2 million of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding