A century ago only twenty cities in the world counted more than one million
inhabitants, while today there are about five hundred. This growing
concentration of population raises more pressing energy and environmental
problems: in order to face them, a sustainable model for city service
management must be implemented. Hence Málaga smartcity, a project that aims at
concentrating a wide range of sustainable technologies in the city: a new model
aimed at increasing energy efficiency, reducing CO2 emissions and enhancing the role of
renewable energy.
The project, still in the early stages, is led by Endesa, which coordinates
a group of fifteen companies and research institutes. It has been conceived for
Malaga, the Spanish city on the southern coast with more than 550,000
inhabitants, and tests will specifically involve the area of Playa de la
Misericordia. In the first four years the project will benefit 300 industrial
customers, 900 service providing companies and 11,000 residential
customers.
The city of Malaga was chosen because it meets some basic requirements: it
has a great growth potential, large technological capabilities, hosts various
universities and companies, has an excellent electrical infrastructure and is
strongly supported by the government. When the project was presented last July
in Málaga, Francisco de Borja Prado Eulate, President of Endesa, said that
"a sustainable society must be responsible and must be able to respond to
global challenges with the best technologies and the greatest capacity for
innovation. That's what this project represents".
Integrated technologies
The smartcity project aims at fully integrating renewables into the power grid
by installing photovoltaic panels in public buildings, using micro-generation
electricity in hotels and installing small wind turbines in the area.
Furthermore, systems will be used for energy storage in batteries for air
conditioning in buildings, street lighting and urban mobility. In particular,
the latter shall be improved by enhancing the use of electric cars, installing
charging stations and introducing a number of experimental vehicles.
The final user will be involved in every stage. All customers can rely on
the new electronic meters that allow a smarter use of energy. Furthermore, the
installation of advanced telecommunications and remote control systems will
allow real-time automatic operations on the distribution network, improving
service quality.
The project's ultimate objective is to achieve 20% energy savings and reduce
emissions by over 6,000 tons of CO2
per year. The smartcity Málaga project is included among the six major projects
of this kind now existing in the world, the others being developed in Stockholm
(Sweden), Malta, Masdar (Dubai), Boulder and Columbus (USA), and is included in
the 20-20-20 Plan of the European Union.
