‘Actur Barrio Solar’ (Actur Solar District) the pioneering project in Spain that will allow residents and businesses  in this district ofZaragoza to take advantage of the solar energy generated in municipal buildings. It takes a new step with the launch of its most social aspect: the incorporation into the programme of 20 vulnerable families who will be able to benefit from it free of charge.

Zaragoza City Council, through the municipal company ‘Zaragoza Vivienda’, has already completed the selection of these 20 families and this June will begin individualised work with each one of them. In addition to accessing renewable and local energy, EDP Foundation and ECODES will collaborate to help them reduce their energy consumption and improve comfort of their homes.

This was explained by the Zaragoza City Councillor for Infrastructures, Housing and the Environment, Patricia Cavero, during a ceremony with the Executive Director of ECODES, Víctor Viñuales and the head of Transversal Activities of the EDP Foundation, Jorgelina Exposito.

ECODES staff will carry out an individualised energy diagnosis of each family to detect how to optimise their energy supply contracts, improve their energy consumption habits in a personalised way and identify actions to make your homes more efficient and comfortable.

On the one hand, micro-efficiency energetic measures will be proposed that can be carried out directly by the families, such as the installation of weather-stripping in windows, lower doors , reflectors for radiators, programmers, power strips or LED bulbs. This will be followed by the implementation of reforms and concrete actions in the homes, which will be carried out by a company specialising in reforms, which will allow for the implementation  of more fareaching measures, such as the replacement of boilers, heaters or radiators for new and more efficient ones.

These actions will take place between June and November and will be financed by the EDP Foundation through the Solidarity Energy programme. The average investment will be €1,000 per household.

Barrio Solar (Solar District), renewable local, solidarity-based energy

 ‘Actur Barrio Solar’ is an initiative promoted by ECODES, EDP and the Zaragoza City Council, with the collaboration of the Schneider Electric Foundation and the EDP Foundation. Its main objective: to facilitate access to more efficient, renewable, local and solidarity-based energy, while promoting inclusion and environmental culture. It is a social innovation project that combines a technical part, such as two photovoltaic installations of collective self-consumption that add 100 kilowatt peak power, with a collaborative approach based on citizen participation and the promotion of social cohesion in the neighbourhood, using renewable energy as a catalyst.

In total, 200 homes and businesses will benefit from this project. They will achieve an average saving of 30% in their electricity consumption thanks to the self-consumption of the energy generated by the photovoltaic installations, that will begin to be installed in the coming weeks on the roofs of the municipal sports centres ‘Siglo XXI’ and ‘Actur V’.

The two photovoltaic installations to be commissioned by EDP have a total power of 100 kilowatts peak power and will generate 150,000 kilowatt hours per year; the energy needed to drive a million kilometres in an electric vehicle. In addition, as it is 100% renewable energy, neighbours and businesses will avoid the annual emission of 40,000 kilograms of CO2, with a positive impact on air quality equivalent to planting 3,000 new trees.

On June 2nd, an informative session will take place for the neighbours of Actur-Rey Fernando in the Civic Centre ‘Rio Ebro’ at 17:30, where the ‘Actur Barrio Solar’ Office is also located. Attended by Ecodes staff, the meeting will analys with stakeholderstheir energy consumption in order  to estimate savings and value the implications of the project. This open session joins the visits to businesses and information tables that have been held since the beginning of May to present ‘Barrio Solar’ among citizens.