Bizerte municipality in Tunisia has set an ambitious vision to transition into a smart municipality by 2050. The municipal plan integrates smart components into the development of future projects, namely in the management of mobility, energy, building and housing, public services, and integrated management. In order to concretize this vision, the municipality has partnered with a wide spectrum of stakeholders including representatives of civil society (the Association Bizerte 2050, the association Hippo Dirutus), development agencies, research institutions as well as companies and regional representatives of the private sector. As part of the action plan towards this vision, the municipality has successfully piloted a number of projects including the energy retrofitting of municipal building and improving energy efficiency in municipal vehicular fleet.
In alignment with its vision to become a smart city and contributing to the national target of a successful energy transition in Tunisia, Bizerte municipality has embarked on a program for energy transition which includes among its targets improving energy efficiency in public buildings and reducing fuel usage by its fleet. The project has tackled a major challenge that many Tunisian municipalities face, which is the reduction of the high energy cost borne by the municipality due to intensive and ineffective energy consumption. To implement this project, Bizerte municipality has partnered with the national energy agency ANME (2021). As an example of the local actions, Bizerte municipality has implemented energy retrofitting in one of its municipal buildings. The projects resulted in economic, social and environmental benefits, as it conserves energy leading to a reduction of energy bills, in addition to improving the indoor environmental quality and work conditions for employees and other users of the buildings. By employing GPS tracking to its fleet, the municipality has also succeeded in achieving a significant reduction in fuel consumption. Moreover, Bizerte municipality has completed the replacement of streetlighting with LED lighting fixtures.
Energy conservation should be prioritized at the local municipal level in order to facilitate the energy transition in Tunisia. The municipality of Bizerte has had the leading role in pioneering energy efficiency and raising public awareness on this pressing topic. The municipality has led by example and has proven how transparency and public engagement are the key drivers to promoting energy efficiency practices.
Furthermore, the municipal representatives of Bizerte have highlighted the need to conducting market research on the available technologies for smart municipalities, which in the case of Bizerte has revealed a number of reliable service providers in private sector in the field of Internet of Things who can provide reliable and commercially-competitive solutions. In addition, the municipal representatives have highlighted that national energy agency (ANME) has been an empowering partner. Their support was manifold and included technical trainings and awareness raising. ANME has also developed the software CLIP National Agency for energy calculations and the energy classification of buildings
Website of the national energy agency - Agence Nationale pour la Maitrise de l’Energie (ANME)
http://www.anme.tn/
Published: 28/07/2021
Ms. Sonia Dhaouadi
Technicien principal- Commune de Bizerte
s.dhaouadi2019(at)gmail.com
Ms. Wiem Amri
wiemamri.munbizerte(at)gmail.com