Photo: Solar panels on the roof of Quartre Cantons secondary school. IES Quatre Cantons
In Barcelona, a secondary school, residents' association, and the city council have teamed up to create a solar energy community that's growing, rooftop by rooftop, across the city. The solar panels that sit on the roof of Quatre Cantons secondary school power not only the school, but also 30 neighboring households, each of which receive 500W of electricity from it, cutting down their electricity bills by 25%. Due to Spanish law, solar installations can only supply power within a 500m radius (to compare, France and Portugal allot a 2km radius); but with 11 public buildings within 500m of the school that could also be installed with solar panels, the hope is that solar power could be extended across the locality. Eloi Badia, councilor for climate change and ecological transition, notes, "These energy communities are really special and they make it possible to find solutions that wouldn't otherwise be viable, but it isn't scalable for the whole city."
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