Galway is set to significantly reduce its carbon footprint after the Galway County Council has signed up to a new “green energy” power deal with leading independent energy provider Energia. The deal will reduce Galway’s carbon footprint by almost 14,000 tonnes each year.
The new deal is valued in the region of €3.5 million, and will see Energia supply over 27 GWh (Gigawatt hours ) of power to the county council. The energy requirement of Galway County Council is equivalent to powering 4,820 Irish homes. Through the use of Energia’s green energy capacity, the local authority will be directly reducing Galway’s carbon footprint by 14,000 tonnes each year.
The deal with Energia will also offer the local authority a reduction of up to 10 per cent on its electricity bills. Energia also offers its customers an energy efficiency programme which, if fully embraced, can reduce energy consumption by up to 20 per cent.
Energia already supplies a large number of Ireland’s local authorities with green electricity. It also supplies more than 27 local authorities throughout Ireland with “unmetered” electricity, including Cork City Council, Laois County Council, Carlow County Council, Kilkenny County Council, Monaghan County Council, Wexford County Council and Wicklow County Council. Unmetered electricity powers services such as public lighting and Energia was the first independent energy provider to enter this market when it was opened to competition over a year ago.
The Mayor of County Galway, Cllr Jimmy McClearn, commented: “This is a great opportunity for Galway County Council to reduce its operating costs while fulfilling our commitment to address the challenges of climate change at a local level.
The switchover has been taking place over the last 18 months and saved the council €285,000 last year alone. The latest contract signing targeted the public lighting electricity - which will save a further €45K a year, along with a major reduction in our carbon footprint.
“The council has implemented an Energy MAP programme to deliver a whole range of energy efficiency measures in order to meet a 33 per cent reduction in energy consumption by 2020. This is in place across all of the council’s departments from water services, social housing, offices, libraries, roads and transportation.”
John King, key account manager, Energia, added: “We are delighted to have signed this deal with Galway County Council. Energia has over 220 megawatts of “green energy” capacity currently and, with more on the way, we’re in a great position to provide the environmentally sustainable power that large local authorities like Galway’s need.
“Switching to Energia is simple and offers savings of up to 10 per cent to businesses. We work with organisations both large and small in the public and private sectors throughout the country to deliver cost effective energy solutions that deliver real value for money.”
Energia has offices in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Belfast and Omagh.
