The rehabilitation and regeneration of the heat network of the SmartEnCity project in Vitoria has been completed

The Smartencity project for the rehabilitation and regeneration of the Gasteizarra de Coronation neighborhood progresses. After more than a year of intense technical and inter-institutional work, the City Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Visesa (Basque Public Society dependent on the Vice Ministry of Housing of the Department of Environment, Territorial Policy and Housing of the Basque Government in charge of coordinating the project), the Basque Entity of Energy, Giroa-Veolia and the Errotaza Neighborhood Association have presented new details about this project. The objective of this EurOpeo plan, in which Vitoria-Gasteiz participates together with the cities of Tartu and Sonderborg, raises the development and deployment of integrated and balanced solutions in energy efficiency, sustainable mobility and ICTs to improve the quality of life of the neighbors and neighbors of this area of ​​the Alava capital. The mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Gorka Urtaran; the general director of Visesa, Carlos Quindós, the general director of Eve, Iñigo Ansola; the general director of Giroa-Veolia, Juan Manuel Taracena; And the neighborhood representative of the Errotazaharra association, César Caño, have been in charge of offering the information this morning at a press conference at the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council.

The mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Gorka Urtaran, explained that it is a “very complex, demonstrative, with a duration of five years and that it seeks to develop a strategy at eurOpeo level”. As a consequence of this complexity to which the mayor has referred, it has been necessary to carry out an important inter -institutional and technical work and develop and define the project in recent months. “Now we have all the information that the neighbors of Coronation have been claiming. And the time has come to be transferred to join the initiative, because we have some deadlines that the EurOpea community marks and some thresholds to which we must arrive between all. I would like to encourage citizens to share this experience and work together to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of this area. ”

The mayor has also mentioned some of the issues that the City Council has resolved in recent months, such as the approval of the Special Plan of the neighborhood to regulate the urban planning of the planned actions, the municipal contribution to the guarantee fund or the participatory process in which the neighbors of Coronation have been able to prioritize the different actions provided by the City Council in the field of public space. The Consistory has planned to allocate two million eurto these interventions, as extraordinary contribution to the project.

For his part, Carlos Quindós, General Director of Visesa, explained that the EurOPEA Commission raises “unavoidable deadlines for obtaining aid. For 2019, the rehabilitations of the buildings must be executed, so that the neighbors must decide if they want to do this project before November 30. It is also necessary a threshold of neighbors and neighbors adhered to the project for the project Infrastructure of the heat network. To obtain that support from the neighborhood, it is considered essential that citizens can obtain all the information already defined. And, in that sense, Carlos Quindós has announced a conference that will host the Aldabe Civic Center this weekend. “We are going to open a space to listen, exchange opinions, know experiences of people who have participated in similar rehabilitation projects and clarify doubts with the professionals of Visesa, Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council, Eve and Giroa-Veolia. We know that there are many doubts and concerns that have emerged along this path and these days will serve to solve them. They will be held on Friday, day 23 (from 11 to 14 to 14 to 14 to 14 Saturday 24 (from 11 to 14 hours).

The Basque Government and the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council have decided to enable the granting of complementary aid to eurOPEAS, regional and local aids destined to the impulse of the project, to facilitate access to action for those with limited income and difficulties in obtaining financing. These aid will allow those housing holders to face a percentage of the non -subsidized costs of the rehabilitation action, a percentage that will range between 25% and 85% of the non -subsidized costs, depending on the family income of the convivial unit.

In addition to the Guarantee Fund, another instrument has also been enabled to facilitate the financing of the part of the project not covered by public aid. Kutxabank, Laboral Kutxa, Bankoa and Rural Kutxa have joined this financial agreement promoted by VISESA. This agreement regulates very interesting financial conditions so that both individual residents and communities can access loans with a maturity of between 8 and 12 years, which allow them to meet monthly loan payments in accordance with their financial capacity. .

The General Director of Eve, Iñigo Ansola, has stated that “this project will involve a great thrust to the use of renewable energy of Biomass in Araba. It will also be carried out through an urban heat network, a widely widespread concept in EurOPA and that is one of the most efficient ways to use this energy. In our opinion, coronation has the necessary components so that, as you can see in this act, we can see in this act. involved. Both the residential and industrial, primary and services sector. Informative meetings convened and bet on a great future for their neighborhood. ”

Biomass to generate heat in the neighborhood
From Giroa-Veolia, for his part, Juan Manuel Taracena has explained that “the Heat Network or District Heating is a system to produce and distribute heat generated centrally for a group of users connected to the same, but that allows individualized use of heating for each neighbor. The heat is produced in the new power plant next to the Aldabe civic center and is distributed through pipes that run underground to the sub-power plant in each building (current boiler room in the blocks where central heating already exists). In those homes that have individual boilers, these are replaced by a heating and hot water supply cabinet with its individual energy meter. Once the building is connected to the network, it does not require boilers or flammable fuels (gas or diesel), eliminating the risk derived from the presence of centralized installations (in the boiler room) or domestic installations (individual boilers). Likewise, spaces currently occupied by boilers are freed up, significantly simplifying the substations. Thanks to the use of biomass of local origin with a lower price variability than fossil fuels, as well as the improvements in the insulation of the facades, economic savings of 20% are achieved on the heating and hot water bill.

As Taracena explained, the projected model for the Coronation neighborhood responds to the sustainability principles required by EurOPA and that in Euskadi are endorsed by Decree 178/2015 prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development and Sustainability of the Basque Government. Said decree sets for the public sector consumption reductions of 12% by the year 2020 and 25% in the year 2025. Likewise, it sets at 32% in the year 2020, and 40%, in the year 2025, the percentage of buildings that have renewable energy use facilities, being able to be both with thermal use systems and of electricity generation. "The installation to be implemented in the Coronation neighborhood far exceeds the objectives identified in the Decree of the Basque Government regarding energy sustainability," he said.

The fuel preferably used will be biomass of forest origin from forest clearing and/or energy crops. It is an ecological fuel, considered renewable and therefore reduces CO2 emissions by using it to replace fossil fuels. In our environment there is a large surplus of biomass, which will reduce energy dependence on foreign energy and eliminate the price variability so common in traditional energies. The Network will also have natural gas equipment, in order to increase flexibility and ensure service through various heat sources. Each neighbor will have individualized use of the heating, that is, despite the heat being generated centrally, the neighbor will not have to be subject to specific schedules that limit the use of the heating but will manage both the heating as they deem appropriate. like domestic hot water. You will have a platform where you can view individual consumption and examine the accumulated cost of heating and hot water at all times. The service will be billed using two terms, one fixed and the other variable depending on the actual consumption of each user. Thus, it is intended that each neighbor can manage the use of the service as well as its cost individually.