The "Baseline Inventory" identifies obstacles that stand in the way of improving the public lighting infrastructure. Public and private actors were surveyed in order to generate knowledge about stakeholders and to identify relevant financing models for energy efficiency measures in the field of street lighting.

As part of this analysis, the research results on funding opportunities for infrastructure expansion in Central European countries are summarized. EU funding and aid programs, national, public funding, multilateral and bilateral bridging financing and private funding sources are examined. For each grant, goals, financial instruments, funded projects, beneficiaries and the application process are examined and explained in detail.

‘Best practice guide’ reviews existing financing models, including self-financing, debt-financing, financing by a private contractor, financing by a private contractor, through energy savings, financing by public-private partnerships, financing by utilities, and financing by citizens. For each model, we provide an overview, identify the projects to which it can be applied, specify its advantages and disadvantages, and provide a relevant case study.

‘Guideline on finding a suitable financing model for public lighting investment’ draws up on a summary of three preceding and offers a decision-making tree for municipalities for selecting a relevant financing model. It also discusses the linkage between available funding sources and financing models.

‘Comparative Inventory of the political/legal framework’ analyses the political and legal aspects which will frame the installation or upgrade of public lighting infrastructure in each partner country. We collected a comprehensive inventory of relevant hard and soft instruments in each partner country.

‘Analysis of the political and legal framework and the examples’ analyzes, based on the experience of each project partner, the legal and political aspects of public lighting installation and upgrade. We analyzed the information provided by each one of the partners and elaborated 7 country reports The deliverable consists of one EU-Report and 7 Country reports for each one of the partners (Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Slovenia). We conducted a crosscutting analysis of the country reports to identify common legal challenges as well as provide recommendations for a legally secure implementation of street lighting infrastructure.

‘Strategy to facilitate the integration of dynamic lighting from a legal perspective’ consist of a best-practice guide addressing mainly municipal decision-makers and infrastructure developers. The strategy will provide recommendations for a legally secure implementation of dynamic lighting solutions.

Investment in the upgrade of street lighting infrastructure may offer energy savings up to 80%. It is also very cost-efficient and has a short payback period. In spite of these arguments, a large share of the infrastructure in many European countries requires refurbishment. The budgetary constraint of its owners, who are often municipalities, is a common reason. To overcome it, creative business models are required to attract other investors and overcome the barrier of high up-front investment costs.
The paper summarizes the results of a piece of research, which aims to find suitable models to finance urban street lighting infrastructure. The geographical focus is on the countries of Central Europe, namely Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The research represents one of the tasks of Dynamic Light project, which aims to promote dynamic, intelligent and energy efficient urban lighting. The project is supported by the Interreg Central Europe platform.
The paper provides a review of existing financing models, including self-financing, debt-financing, third party financing, and project finance. The paper further analyses these models using a common framework. In particular, it provides the overview of each model, identifies the projects to which it could be applied, specifies its advantages and disadvantages, and provides a case study. The paper concludes with recommendations for decision-makers on finding a suitable financing model.