Case Study

The new Royal Decree on aid for developing clean energy projects in municipalities at risk of depopulation includes ENAC’s accreditation

The Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge has recently published Royal Decree 692/2021, which regulates the direct granting of aid for investments to special local clean energy projects in municipalities with a demographic challenge. The main objectives of this aid plan are to promote small municipalities participating in energy transition projects, to ensure electric mobility is deployed and to guarantee energy saving and efficiency in public buildings.

The Royal Decree includes, in its Annex I, the different types of clean energy projects subject to the aid. In that context, the Annex provides, in Measure 4, that, with regard to renovating outdoor lighting, “LED lighting must have the certificates issued by a conformity assessment body accredited by ENAC or a European equivalent, indicated in the point `Test Reports and Certificates issued by CAB on lighting` of the document `Technical requirements for lighting with LED outdoor lighting technology´ prepared by the Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE, part of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge) and the Spanish Lighting Committee (CEI), with regard to safety requirements, electromagnetic compatibility, lighting components and lighting materials, which are additionally listed in the annex to the aforementioned document”. Likewise, the regulatory text indicates that the IDAE may request these certificates at any time once the contracting of the lighting supplies has taken place.

The European Administration’s confidence in accreditation

The aid plan is part of the IDAE’s so-called DUS 5000 Program within the framework of the Government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and is financed by the European Union’s new Next Generation EU Recovery Fund. This new regulation demonstrates once again the trust placed in accreditation by the Public Administration as a tool to guarantee the safety and integrity of conformity assessment activities. In this case, those related to the technical requirements of LED technology lighting devices, both nationally; since the IDAE has included accreditation as a requirement in its documents for years, as well as at a European level.