Location
Description
Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital of the Basque Country and one of the leading European cities investing in green economy. The city, which was the European Green Capital in 2012, has 240 000 inhabitants and a high proportion of green public areas, ensuring that the entire population lives within 300 metres of an open green space. Numerous tangible measures are in place to assist and increase biodiversity and ecosystem services. Vitoria-Gasteiz is committed to becoming smarter, using modern technologies to improve its citizens’ quality of life. Citizens play a key role in the definition of strategies covering ICT, mobility, energy and the urban environment, working together with public bodies, the private sector and research agents.
The implementation area of the SmartEnCity project in Vitoria-Gasteiz is the Coronación neighbourhood, which is a highly vulnerable area from a social and energy-efficiency point of view. With the focus on neighbourhood regeneration, the actions in the demo site cover three main areas:
- energy rehabilitation of facade and building roofs in 1313 homes;
- installation of a central heating system and a wood-fired hot water boiler;
- rehabilitation of public spaces (streets, squares, pavement, benches, landscaping, etc.).
Demo Site Expected Impact
* Detailed information regarding the technical and financial performance will be available at a later stage.
The planned measures will reduce energy demand in the neighbourhood, increase the use of renewable energy, improve the comfort level of buildings, save costs on space heating and hot water and involve local residents in project planning.
Technologies
Buildings and energy
* Detailed information regarding the technical and financial performance will be available at a later stage.
The solutions being implemented in Vitoria-Gasteiz are:
Energy efficiency in buildings
- Retrofitting the building envelope
- 750 dwellings (60 000 m²) in the Coronación district will be insulated
- Existing energy systems will be replaced with a connection to the district heating
Energy systems integration
- District heating and cooling
- A new biomass (wood chip) district heating network will be deployed, and integrated energy management systems will optimise efficiency in homes, buildings and districts
- Biomass boilers
Mobility & Transport
- Clean fuels and fuelling infrastructure
- Electric, hybrid and clean vehicles
- Acquisition of electric vehicles (taxis and private cars) will be granted, and the recharge network will be extended
ICT
- Building energy management system
- Neighbourhood energy management system