The EDP Foundation has presented the projects and entities selected by the EDP Energía Solidaria program 2023, an initiative promoting a fair energy transition in Spain with the goal to drive change towards a more inclusive society. During the event, which took place in the Centro Botín in Santander, all the organizations had the chance to introduce their initiatives and exchange views. In addition, a round-table discussion was held with the jury members of this edition under the title “Challenges of social innovation in the topic of Fair Energy Transition”.

Several personalities have attended the award ceremony: the general director of Youth, Development Cooperation and Voluntary Work, Manuel Joaquín Rueda; the president of the EDP Foundation, Manuel Menéndez; the executive director of the Centro Botín, Fátima Sánchez; and the director of the EDP Foundation, Vanda Martins.

The EDP Foundation will allocate one million euros to support the 14 selected projects, as well as to empower and prepare the social economy on issues of energy transition. Thanks to its support, non-profit organizations from different parts of Spain will be able to set their projects in motion, which are enclosed in one of the intervention areas proposed for this edition: sustainable mobility, energy efficiency and renewable energies.

Among the selected projects there is Hyliacom, dedicated to promoting sustainable mobility in Aragon, Galicia and La Rioja. From the organization, the participants express their joy to have been selected: “We’ve spent years working on projects to give structure to the emptied part of Spain, and we see the EDP Foundation’s support as a recognition of this effort. With this project we combine social and technological innovation to promote sustainable mobility in rural settings, taking advantage of what already exists and weaving networks, fighting to fix population, to guarantee important services for vulnerable people, and doing it in a sustainable way too.”

Regarding the projects selected in the energy efficiency area, one of them is the PREVENIR Association from the Canary Islands, which wanted to highlight that: “We have integrated this action into a broader preventive intervention, which promotes life skills, rights and responsibilities from an early age in more than 2,000 children in the Canary Islands, with special emphasis on environmental protection and a responsible use of electricity.”

On the other hand, the Santa María La Real Foundation, from Castile and León, has been one of the selected projects in the renewable energies area. Their goal is clear: “Supporting non-profit entities to reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by adopting more sustainable practices. We are developing a guide on energy efficiency and renewable energy; a compendium of good practices where social entities will show examples of the incorporation of renewable energy.”

In addition, as part of the commitment that the EDP Foundation maintains with the so-called communities in transition, those located in the areas in which the company develops its generation activity, projects contributing to rural development or meeting the needs of older people in these territories could be submitted.

In total, 49 applications were received, from which four proposals were selected in the area of sustainable mobility, two in energy efficiency, five in the field of renewables, two to promote the development of communities in transition, and one multi-year project. The jury has positively highlighted the incorporation of elements of innovation in the proposals presented by entities awarded on previous occasions, demonstrating the effectiveness of the program of accompaniment to entities.

The projects selected in this edition of EDP Energía Solidaria are the following, classified by autonomous community:

Aragon:

Asociación de Economía Social de Aragón, ENERGÍA COLABORATIVA EN ARAGÓN: Promotion of the creation of four energy communities in rural areas, providing information and support in their development. It also includes the establishment of a network of existing energy communities to benefit from learning and the exchange of good practices.

Tararaina Sociedad Cooperativa, ECO-RIZ: The project promotes the recovery of a disappearing traditional crop in the area, liquorice root, through the creation of a shared workshop that offers opportunities for socio-economic development.

Hyliacom, DE PUEBLO: Pilot project in consortium between a technology company and a social entity specialized in rural development and social innovation to design, develop and test a technological solution that seeks to address the problem of mobility in rural environments in a sustainable way and then adapt it in other territories at national level. The initiative will also be developed in Galicia and La Rioja.

Asociación Mallata Educativa, PALABRAS, PASOS Y SEMILLAS: The project addresses the issue of sustainable mobility in the rural area of Alto Gallego, a rural mountainous area subject to depopulation processes in which there is hardly any public transport, bike lanes or shared mobility solutions. It proposes different lines of action related to awareness and culture.

Andalusia: 

AFIM21, MAYORES COMO AGENTES DE CAMBIO: The project is designed to combine the intergenerational transfer of knowledge about environmental care and energy efficiency in the home, with the benefits that this transfer will have on the elderly, who become agents of change.

Asturias: 

Fundación Vinjoy, TERRITORIO EN VERDE: The project pursues a double aim; to create a forest workshop where the users of the Foundation will carry out activities and workshops with a socio-educational purpose, and the repopulation of the lands burned by the recent fires in Mount Naranco, in Oviedo.

Asociación Cuantayá, MUEBTT 2.0: The project seeks to promote the appropriate and responsible use of new means of transport and the promotion of public transport among young people in a vulnerable neighbourhood in Gijón, where the entity usually works.

PREDIF Asturias, PROMOCIÓN DE LA AUTONOMÍA PERSONAL EN PERSONAS CON DISCAPACIDAD FÍSICA Y/O DEPENDENCIA EN EL MEDIO RURAL ASTURIANO: The project envisages the implementation of physical therapy interventions at home, aimed at people with physical disabilities or dependence in communities in transition defined by EDP.

AFESA / FEAFES / ASTURIAS, CUIDANDO LA SALUD MENTAL: The project proposes the development of a comprehensive home care service for elderly people with mental health problems and their families in rural areas of the Caudal Basin.

Canary Islands:

Asociación PREVENIR, SOMOS PERSONAS ÚNICAS E IGUAL DE IMPORTANTES: This is the second year of a multi-year project launched under the EDP Solidaria 2022 program, which aims to mitigate the consequences of the COVID crisis from an educational-preventive point of view. This year they include awareness-raising and training components on energy-related issues with students and teachers.

Castile and León: 

Federación Autismo Castilla y León, MOVILIZATEA: Project for the development of a APP for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder and cognitive difficulties to promote the safe and autonomous use of public transport in Castile and León.

Fundación Santa María La Real, RENUEVA TU ENERGÍA II: It is the extension of a project currently under implementation by EDP Solidaria 2022; the intervention, in consortium, aims to promote the incorporation of renewable energy and the promotion of energy efficiency among the entities of the Third Sector and Social Economy in Castile and León.

Madrid:

Asociación Apoyo, MORATALUZ 2.0: Project that seeks to offer an effective solution to energy vulnerability (EV) through the constitution of Energy Communities (ECs) in which vulnerable households (VH) can be incorporated to ensure access to a sufficient amount of energy and to drive a fair and inclusive energy transition. From a social, legal and technical point of view, the processes of constitution of ECs will be invigorated.

Sercade, ECOTOPIA LABORAL: Start-up of a green labour insertion company for the installation, maintenance and repair of photovoltaic systems to individuals, companies and public organizations. The objective of the project is the training of migrants at risk of social exclusion and their subsequent insertion in the labour market, as well as the promotion of renewable energy.

Since its launch in 2015, EDP Energía Solidaria has allocated more than five million euros to 174 projects from 120 organizations, with a positive impact on the quality of life of more than 550,000 people.

Fair energy transition is one of the fundamental pillars of the activity of the EDP Foundation, which is fully aligned with the vision and values of the EDP Group. Therefore, the EDP Foundation develops different programs, such as EDP Energía Solidaria, to promote structural change in communities and their economies and create a more favourable environment from a social and environmental point of view.