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Barcelona launches its first energy community at the Fishermen’s Wharf
- #4/2023, Port
The Port of Barcelona, the company Comsa Corporación and the Barcelona Fishermen's Guild have worked together to install flexible photovoltaic panels on the roofs of the small houses located in the net yard of the Fishermen's Wharf. The project is part of the European Life BIPV (Building-integrated Photovoltaics) project, coordinated by Comsa Corporación and co-financed by the European “Life” program.
The photovoltaic installation on the small houses has a power of 29.5 kWp and is estimated to generate 43.4 MWh annually, i.e. 5% of the total consumption of the Fishermen’s Wharf and 11% of the consumption of the ice factory. The project aims to develop and demonstrate innovative solutions for integrating photovoltaic modules into buildings, thereby increasing renewable energy generation and the sustainability of buildings and infrastructure.
The photovoltaic panels, developed by the German manufacturer Heliatek, have been produced with organic materials, are very light and flexible and adapt to the surface on which they are installed. In this case to the undulation of the roofs of the houses, without additional support structures, thus optimizing the integration of the system in the environment and reducing costs in materials and installation. These houses have roofs that do not support traditional photovoltaic panels, both because of the shape of the roof and because of the extra weight of a standard installation.
The Port's first energy community
This action is the initial step for the Fisherman’s Wharf to host the Port of Barcelona’s first energy community, i.e., a more efficient and decentralized energy consumption system that will lead to a reduction in polluting and greenhouse gas emissions. The future energy community will consist of networking the renewable electricity generated by photovoltaic islands located in three areas of the dock, each associated with a phase of the project: the net yard, where the small houses are located (phase 1), the fishermen’s guild fish market (phase 2) and the tangle of nets (phase 3). This renewable energy will feed the compressors that produce the industrial cooling of the ice factory, reducing the energy consumption of this facility. One of the great advantages of this new structure is that it will make it possible to connect the generation of renewable energy from solar panels directly with consumers, guaranteeing the development of fishing activity in Barcelona under criteria of sustainability and competitiveness. The next step, which will entail the completion of the first phase, will be to lay a system of photovoltaic modules in the grid yard. In parallel, batteries with a capacity of 45 kWh are being installed to store the surplus of photovoltaic production.
Prova pilot europea
The integration and efficient management of photovoltaic renewable energy by applying storage systems and demand flexibility are part of the Creators project, a program to develop local energy communities in Europe with Horizon 2020 funding. The Fisherman’s Wharf in the port of Barcelona is one of the four pilot sites of the project, together with the Jesenice steel plant (Slovenia), the Temse industrial park (Belgium) and an installation in the municipality of Tartu (Estonia). The experience gained within the project will enable the initiative to be scaled up throughout the port area. For this reason, the port of the Catalan capital has begun to study the consumption of all the concessionaires and the potential for photovoltaic production on the roofs of all the buildings in the port area to study the best technical solution to apply to the photovoltaic surpluses, guaranteeing maximum use of renewable production in the area. It should be noted that Creators represents a new step forward in the transformation of port activity towards a more sustainable and green future, adding to other projects being developed by the port, such as the electrification of the docks (Nexigen project) or the production of green fuels. These actions will enable Barcelona to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets of 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2050.
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