The savings generated reach 37 GWh per year, equivalent to the annual consumption of a city with more than 20,000 households. The initiative is part of the Energy Efficiency Program (PEE) of the companies, regulated by the National Agency of Electrical Energy (Aneel).
In addition to helping save energy in public buildings in the municipal, state, and federal spheres, the actions benefit the electrical system with the reduction of peak demand, i.e., at the times when the locality uses the most energy. The reduction caused by the initiative reached 5,863.35 kW. Since 2019, 3,030 public buildings have already been contemplated by the project - 623 of them in Bahia, 483 in Pernambuco, 455 in Rio Grande do Norte, and 1,469 in São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul.
"These are projects that bring benefits to the institutions and to society, with savings not only in the electricity bill, but also in energy and natural resources. Besides replacing the equipment for more modern and efficient models and encouraging the use of clean energy, we raise awareness about fighting waste," says Neoenergia's energy efficiency manager, Ana Christina Mascarenhas.
In all, 832,277 bulbs were replaced until June 2021 for LED models, the most efficient in the market. With the modernization, it is possible to reach savings of up to 50% with the lighting costs of a property, besides having advantages such as a longer useful life and the reduction of environmental impacts. An example was the replacement of 40 thousand light bulbs at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), carried out by Neoenergia Coelba.
The group's distributors have also installed photovoltaic panels in public and philanthropic health and education institutions, such as the solar photovoltaic system built in the Women's Hospital, in Recife, in the concession area of Neoenergia Pernambuco, which has an installed capacity of 320kWp and should generate a saving of 536.7 MWh of electric energy, which represents R$ 240 thousand of annual reduction in the health unit's bill.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, hospitals dedicated to treating patients with covid-19 in the concession areas of Neoenergia Coelba and Neoenergia Pernambuco were benefited by the distributors' actions with efficient air conditioning equipment. The initiative led to total savings of 1,119.4 MWh/year and a reduction in peak demand of 118.7 kW.