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Smartcity Barcelona

Endesa is working on a project to upgrade its power supply system in Barcelona where it will roll out a cutting-edge smart grid offering greater savings and more efficient and sustainable management. This will prepare the city for the energy model of the future, based on values which afford economic and social progress. Total investment in this new SmartCity project is estimated to be over Euro 100 million.

The scheme, which is backed by the Barcelona City Council’s urban planning and economic development department and involves various energy technology companies, aims to establish a new power model which is better adapted to the current and future needs of society, seeking greater energy efficiency and more sustainable development in the city. This proposal has been designed whereby these concepts can be applied by the company and customers themselves as they will have greater control and management over their consumption.

To this end, Endesa will install various new power distribution technologies, which have been widely used in Enel's network in Italy for 10 years and are specifically designed for this purpose. First of all the company will install over one million new, cutting-edge smart meters throughout the city providing customers with greater knowledge about their consumption and allowing them to optimise their energy use. These systems will help customers adapt and plan their consumption, leading to greater savings as well as helping reduce emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 or NOx.

In order to make the system easier to operate (which is necessary before applying the changes designed based on the data obtained from the smart meters), new cutting-edge smart grids will be rolled out.

A solar-powered pavilion. The Smartcity Barcelona Control Centre is an innovative solar-powered building designed by Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña and developed by Visoren. The 154 m2 pavilion is transparent, light and portable. It has a modular structure with laminated wood entrances and a photovoltaic roof. In addition to an average daily consumption of 20 kwh and an estimated output of 100 kwh.

Video: Construction of the Control Centre

The pavilion, which will stand at the end of the Muelle de la Marina for a year, will operate as the provisional control centre for Smartcity Barcelona and it will also be open to the public as an exhibition centre for the Smartcity Barcelona project showcasing Endesa's initiatives in remote management, e-vehicles, efficient lighting, monitoring and linking renewable energies to the grid, microgrids, etc.

A global concept. This project entails much more than just improving the power system; the upgrades also involve work to encourage new, more efficient and sustainable uses for energy which promote savings and the sustainable development of the environment.

One of these improvements involves the use of the electric vehicle, of which Barcelona is a key advocate having created the country’s first electric vehicle fast recharge point or “Endesa energy island” at a petrol station in the 22@ Innovation District.

Other energy efficiency plans include the introduction of new public lighting systems which combine safety with a significant reduction in intrusive light and lower energy use. This will be achieved by rolling out cutting-edge LED lighting such as that developed by the Enel Group.

Also as part of this project, Endesa is working on applying efficiency and sustainability concepts not only in the street but also to buildings and its own grids; integrating renewable energy and the smart storage thereof (microgrids).

In the first phase these upgrades will directly benefit 50,000 customers in Barcelona as well as the overall development of the city indirectly. Of this total, there are approximately 43,000 households, 600 industrial customers and 6,400 services customers. The grid will comprise seven substations, 85 medium-voltage lines, 568 distribution centres and contracted capacity of 527,000 kW.

The most noteworthy feature of this first phase is the fact that it is not a pilot project but that the upgrades and improvements are designed for the long term and are intended to create a city for the future which is able to take on both economic and improvement challenges in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability.