Five cemeteries in Valencia will make up next spring what, taken as a whole, will be the largest public and urban photovoltaic plant in Spain.
There will be seven thousand solar panels installed on the roofs of the best-oriented niche buildings in these cemeteries.
They will be able to produce 2.8 MW/hour, a capacity that will far exceed the self-consumption needs of these facilities and whose large surpluses are expected to lower the bill of local energy communities in nearby neighborhoods and also of families at risk of poverty. energy of these areas of the city.
Baptized as
RIP (Rest in Power
), the project was born in part by the confluence of councils, explains Alejandro Ramón, councilor responsible for the cemeteries.
“Since I am also a councilor for Climate Emergency, you are always looking for spaces to install plaques and one day I realized that we had a lot of cover available in cemeteries.
We proposed it to the technicians and they told us that it was viable, that it is still a tiled roof”, he recalls.
It will not be the first cemetery in which panels are installed, an idea that Santa Coloma inaugurated in 2008 and that Malaga or Barcelona have followed, but it will be by far the most ambitious project to date in terms of extension and it hopes to also be the one that benefits the most directly to the electricity bill of individuals.
“It is the ideal place because as an installation it hardly costs anything, but it does have a lot of surface to install.
That and the scope of the project means that there are going to be many surpluses, unlike what can happen in a sports center in which its ceilings would not fully cover the needs of the facility.
The idea is that this energy can be enjoyed by citizens and we are looking for the model.
You can create energy communities or work with families at risk of poverty”, advances the councilor, from Compromís
From the Fundació València Clima i Energia they point out that the average of the joint production of the plant will be equivalent to the average needs of 924 homes but that at times of maximum production it will reach up to what would cover the cost of two thousand.
The advantages of the city
Salvador Seguí, professor at the UPV and academic director of the photovoltaic solar energy postgraduate course, highlights three aspects of this type of project.
“On the one hand, in photovoltaic generation hours coincide with consumption peaks, so that energy is going to be spent.
In addition, being in an urban environment, if you do not spend it, the neighbor spends it and by producing where it is consumed, you avoid the transport of energy and the losses it entails, which according to the latest reports in the EU are between 6 and 10 %”, emphasizes this expert.
In addition, he points out, in urban environments there is no visual "impact" with this type of installation.
Some projects in the rural area have generated controversy in this regard by burdening their inhabitants with the disadvantages of projects that they do not need and whose energy ends up in the cities.
"The idea is good first because it can serve those same buildings and neighbors who live nearby, but also because it makes people see these facilities and encourage them to put them up," he explains.
Countries like Australia, Germany or England, with worse conditions for this type of installation, have many more panels installed on the roofs of homes, something that he attributes to greater awareness.
Now, the new legislation, the aid for the installation and the rise in bills can help Spain get closer to them.
The calendar
This coming September 22, after a last-minute extension due to a bureaucratic problem, the deadline for companies to apply for this award of 3.36 million from València will end, divided into five lots to which they can apply separately or individually. global.
It is taken for granted that there will be interested companies and that the project will be launched.
The idea is that the award be made in November and that the installation begin before the end of the year so that in spring 2023 it is already in operation, at least partially.
The City Council calculates that in a period of between four and seven years the investment will be amortized and that the useful life, on the other hand, will exceed 25 years.
We have not encountered the Church
As the cemeteries are municipal property, permission from the Archbishopric was not necessary, but the Church has supported from the outset a project that has a particularly sensitive point in that the sealing of the roofs is guaranteed so that there are no leaks into the niches.
The solution, they say, has not been technically complicated.
A system of rails anchored directly to the floor and a system of joints that, by pressure, seal the possible path of water between the tiles and the new structure, they explain.
Schools, squares and houses and other roofs
That of the cemeteries is the largest plant that promotes the Valencian consistory but not the only action of this type.
This same week, for example, it has presented the nine photovoltaic pergolas that it has installed in the Santiago Grisolía public school with the double objective of supplying the center with part of the energy it needs (it is expected that they will cover up to 68% of the demand). and also to establish new shadows in the patio.
Others are already being prepared.
He has also installed this type of pergolas in some of the squares that he has just renovated, such as the Mercat Central.
Also,
Along the same lines, the Generalitat has launched the #ZERO program, proximity energy to install solar panels in 114 institutes to reduce their bills and transfer surplus energy to vulnerable families in their environment.
Finally, the City Council has established a 50% bonus on the IBI for five years for those who install these panels in their home.
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