Belgium: School roof solar panels — initial results of an ambitious programme from SeGEC together with the EIB, ELENA and Belfius Banque

In late September 2022, Secrétariat général de l’enseignement catholique (SeGEC), Belfius Banque, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the DUSS consultancy launched a major project to equip private schools with solar panels. A year and a half later, all of the partners together with Reno.energy — the company that won the installation call for tenders in 2023 — have stated that the project has so far been a success.

Jointly financed by Belfius Banque and (for technical preparation) by the EIB via EU grants under the ELENA programme (European Local ENergy Assistance, a technical assistance mechanism for local energy efficiency projects), this project is of unprecedented scale and ambition for the Belgian school sector.

The goal of this ambitious four-year programme set to last until 2026 is to make school buildings more sustainable, thereby helping cut CO₂ emissions and reducing energy bills for the around 800 Catholic education organising authorities in the French and German-speaking communities of the country. So far, 250 schools have a project in progress and 70 have completed installation.

See the joint press release.

See the press briefing (FR).

26 May 2023

Belgium: Thanks to ELENA, 1,000+ schools in Wallonia and Brussels will be equipped with solar panels within four years

Belfius Bank and the “Secrétariat Général de l'Enseignement Catholique” (SeGEC, General Secretariat of Catholic Education) announce a major investment programme, with the support of the EIB and the EU mechanism ELENA, to equip more than 1,000 schools in Brussels and Wallonia with solar panels over the next four years. It will represents an investment of some EUR 23 million to make school buildings more sustainable for 475,000 pupils.

23 March 2015

Belgium: Initial results of the EIB/Belfius "Smart Cities & Sustainable Development" programme

Last June, Belfius Banque and the EIB launched a EUR 400m joint financing programme for the implementation of smart and sustainable projects in line with a "Smart Cities" approach - a European first. Nine months later and progress is excellent: the first loans totalling EUR 35m for concrete projects have just been approved. A considerable number of smart projects from towns, cities and inter-municipal utilities are currently being examined. The "Smart Cities" movement is clearly forging ahead in Belgium too.

5 September 2017

Belgium: EIB and Belfius put innovation and climate action on the agenda as the new school year gets going in Flémalle

Over the last few years, the municipality of Flémalle in Liège Province has endeavoured to improve the energy performance of its buildings, thereby contributing to a 20% reduction in CO₂ emissions in its area by 2020 (to which it has committed under the Covenant of Mayors). This initiative recently resulted in the implementation of two new “smart and sustainable” projects under the Smart Cities, Climate Action & Circular Economy financing programme of the EIB and Belfius Banque.

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