Solar neighborhoods: clean, renewable and solidarity energy for the neighbors

In recent months, citizens around the world are facing an unprecedented situation, which has exposed the importance of timely, coordinated and supportive action to prevent or mitigate, among other disasters, pandemics such as the covid -19. We are now witnessing the severity with which a structural crisis impacts economically and socially and, therefore, we are at a time when we cannot conceive of a recovery from the post-David crisis that is not more sustainable with the environment.

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Spain, as a Member State of the European Union and a party to the Paris Agreement, aims to ensure that by 2030 35% of the final energy we consume comes from renewable energy and that by 2050 our electricity system is 100% renewable. Currently, only 17% of gross final energy has a renewable origin, so we are faced with a challenge of such magnitude that its achievement is not understood without the tracing of alliances between the public and private sectors and, from now on, the contribution citizen.

Distributed generation, such as solar self-consumption, has placed people as the new protagonists of the energy transition. Now we can choose that the energy of our homes is renewable. A simple 4 kWp solar installation saves CO2 into the atmosphere as if you planted 120 trees on your own roof. Solar generation is the cheapest energy source and Spain is the country with the most radiation in the European Union. This new more efficient energy should also serve as an engine for economic recovery, increasing the competitiveness of our companies.

The transformation of the energy production model towards a distributed generation model depends on individuals deciding to make an initial investment for a photovoltaic installation (although it can also be financed). However, with the 'solar neighborhoods' initiative, another alternative appears in which residents can start enjoying cheaper, cleaner and more collective energy without having to make an initial investment or installation in their own homes.

A simple 4 kWp solar installation saves CO2 into the atmosphere as if you planted 120 trees on your own roof

This type of renewable and local energy is characterized by its simplicity. For its installation, only one location in the neighborhood with a sufficiently large roof (approximately more than 300 m2) is needed to make a photovoltaic installation, which allows the distribution of solar energy among the residents of the neighborhood, in a radius of up to 500 meters as established the normative.

The first solar neighborhood, to be installed in Zaragoza, will allow 200 local homes and businesses to reduce their electricity demand by 30% and will promote the social inclusion of vulnerable groups, while increasing the environmental awareness of their neighbors. 10% of the houses that participate in the solar neighborhood will be vulnerable and will be able to benefit from the advantages of self-consumption, saving on their bills and improving their domestic economy.

In short, this first solar neighborhood in Spain to be installed in the city of Zaragoza, sponsored by the City Council, EDP and the NGO ECODES, is an example of how all agents of society can unite and create alliances that allow us to build the world we want: more renewable, efficient and supportive.

Gabriel Nebreda Molinero is CEO of EDP Solar.