Artificial Intelligence, the star of the EDP pavilion at the Feria de Muestras
The energy company invites visitors to a “Trip to the enAIrgy of the future,” with information about its fair transition projects and the first artistic activity with artificial intelligence tools in the expo’s history
Art, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence are intertwined in the EDP pavilion at the Feria de Muestras. The energy company offers visitors an innovative artistic activity, an immersive virtual experience in its facilities for the production and distribution of electric power, as well as information about its activity in the world and its most relevant fair transition projects.
Artificial intelligence, which used to be reserved for the experts, now accompanies citizens in their daily lives; it has been used to develop all the contents in the EDP pavilion, where visitors are presented with an exciting “Trip to the EnAIrgy of the Future.”
Led by Leonardo, an endearing virtual guide, they will witness the company’s commitment to innovation and will be immersed in the realistic and mature project to transform its thermic power plants into strategic locations for renewable energy, storage, the flexibility of the electrical system, and renewable hydrogen.
The projects that the company plans to develop in Asturias stand out among those explained in the pavilion: the Aboño power plant will be transformed into the green hydrogen Asturian valley, and the Soto de Rivera plant will turn into the region’s great green battery. To make both initiatives a reality, EDP has already begun the environmental procedures for the green hydrogen projects in both facilities, which will result in 150 MW of electrolysers in Aboño and another one of 5 MW in Ribera de Arriba.
The centre of the pavilion hosts the first ever art gallery created with artificial intelligence in the exhibition centre and invites the visitors to participate in a workshop to create their own designs inspired by criteria of sustainability and renewable energy, thanks to artificial intelligence. Their works will go on display through screens during the whole expo. In addition, they will be able to see the AI reinterpretation of some power plant designs that Joaquín Vaquero Palacios created for EDP in the region.
Juan Falcón (Oviedo, 1985), the renowned Asturian visual artist, will offer an exclusive screening of a video creation based on images generated with artificial intelligence.
In this central area, the company offers visitors information about the advantages of making a photovoltaic installation for self-consumption in their homes, as well as those offered by electric mobility. Both of EDP’s energy solutions for their customers, self-consumption of solar energy and electric mobility, provide significant savings, in addition to having a clearly positive impact on the environment.
In another area of the pavilion, the visitors will be able to visit several power plants in a virtual and immersive way thanks to 360º glasses: the hydroelectric plants of La Malva, in Somiedo, and Proaza, as well as the Carondio wind park (Allande) and the La Corredoria electric substation, in Oviedo.
EDP will also propose the first virtual visit to their floating solar plant in Alqueva (Portugal), awarded by the European Commission in the Innovation category of the 2023 European Sustainable Energy Awards. The visitors will get to know this floating solar park, which combines several energies into a hybrid model, as if they were there.
The metaverse is also present in the pavilion, through an interactive game to produce green hydrogen in the metaverse’s first power plant of this energy sector, which is going to be key in the energy transition.
The vertical garden on the exterior of the pavilion, the biggest in Asturias and one of the main attractions in the exhibition centre, continues to grow.
The Marketing and Communication manager of EDP Spain, Carmen Fernández, explained: “With this support of Artificial Intelligence we want to showcase to all FIDMA visitors our high-reaching commitment to energy transition, inseparably linked to innovation, which has always been EDP’s hallmark, and to people. Hence our support of art as human beings’ highest expression.” “We count on Asturians to walk together this path towards the Energy of the Future,” she stated.
‘Backwash’
After its success in Madrid’s Gran Vía, the first pop-up exhibition with objects retrieved from the sea will arrive at EDP’s space in the exhibition centre. With it, the company aims to raise the visitors’ awareness about the devastating impact of dumping waste into our seas and oceans.
The exhibition features several objects obtained from a cleaning performed last year in Portugal which became a Guinness Record for the amount retrieved, more than 3 tons of garbage. This same year, the company has collaborated on the cleaning of beaches and seas in various locations of the Iberian Peninsula.
With all of this, EDP strengthens its steadfast commitment to becoming the first big energy company to go 100% green in 2030.