Torrevieja will explore the potential of solar energy in all its buildings and promote its first Local Energy Community

Torrevieja City Council will carry out an exhaustive analysis of the solar energy potential in all buildings in the city with ImpactE and will launch the Local Energy Community project with Smart To People.

As part of its commitment to the energy transition, the City Council will launch a web platform that will provide access to this information to residents, with the aim of promoting the formation of Local Energy Communities. A decisive step in the direction of turning Torrevieja into a climate neutral city.

The Valencian technology company ImpactE , specialized in computer services, artificial intelligence programming and data analysis for decision-making in energy efficiency, has been selected to carry out this initiative, which is promoted by the City Council by the Department of Innovation directed by Ricardo I remember.

The results of the ImpactE study will be presented in a solar map accessible to the public online. This map will serve as an energy promotion and management tool for local homes and businesses. Residents of Torrevieja will be able to consult the specific photovoltaic potential indicators for each building or area selected on the map. These indicators will include data such as the actual generation capacity, the optimal capacity, the necessary investment, estimated savings, the return on investment period and environmental impacts.

ImpactE 's work will provide a detailed view of the photovoltaic energy generation potential in each of the buildings in the municipality. With this information, the owners or users of properties, whether single-family homes, homes and business premises in neighborhood communities, public administrations, companies and third sector entities, will be able to adopt a better-founded decision to participate in the energy transition towards a model based on renewable sources - photovoltaic energy - and energy self-consumption, going from being a mere passive consumer to a prosumer - producer and consumer - of their own energy.

The effective extension of the new model will mean a reduction in the electricity bill and in the emission of greenhouse gases. For businesses and companies it will mean increasing their competitiveness and improving their accounts.

The municipal objective with this project is to carry out an initial diagnosis that facilitates medium and long-term planning, moving away from conventional approaches based on self-consumption facilities building by building and isolated from each other. Instead, the aim is to promote community facilities that generate greater energy and economic savings, using the smallest possible number of roofs. This involves identifying the most optimal locations in terms of generation potential and coverage, while ensuring an adequate return on the initial investment.

As regards the City Council itself, using its own roofs, it intends to achieve, through future initiatives based on the information it will obtain with this project, the ambitious objective of self-sufficiency in energy matters.

At the city level, the project aims to promote the energy transition by promoting the creation of at least one local energy community, at whose disposal it will make the roofs of municipal buildings and infrastructure that are most appropriate.

To address the challenge of making the population of Torrevieja aware of the fundamental keys to self-consumption, as an indispensable tool in the energy transition, raising awareness, informing and empowering citizens, companies and entities in the management of their own energy, the City Council will have with the support of the Valencian consulting firm Smart To People .

In summary, this project is a determined commitment by the City Council to the development of energy transition policies based on rigorous and exhaustive data throughout the territory. By providing all the data openly to the population, the City Council seeks to actively involve citizens in the energy transition.

This initiative has received a subsidy from the Department of Participation, Transparency, Cooperation and Democratic Quality within the 2023 call for financing actions to implement and promote the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, at the local level.