Author: Olga Macías, Smart Buildings and Cities Researcher at TECNALIA Research and Innovation.
The last few months all the news has been overshadowed by the global crisis of COVID-19. This pandemic has turned the whole world upside down and shaken worldwide economies. Among other consequences, many of us agree that this crisis has highlighted the importance of the sustainable Energy Transition, and the need to search for solutions with technical and economic feasibility that will facilitate this transition.
That is why, now more than ever, we believe in the concept of ultra-low temperature, de-carbonized and smart networks developed in the RELaTED project as a solution that allows transforming the current district networks with a greater use of renewable energies, lowering their operating temperature, and ultimately, optimizing the maximum use of available resources.
Despite the lockdown, the RELaTED team has continued working, facing one of the most critical phases of the project, which is none other than examining the ultra-low temperature network concept by putting it into practice in the different real demonstration projects.
“Now more than ever, we believe in the concept of ultra-low temperature, de-carbonized and smart networks developed in the RELaTED project”.
In the case of the Iurreta demonstrator, the definition of the implementation project has been completed during last months. The project aims to transform the current district network that supplies energy to the Ertzaintza base in Iurreta into an ultra-low temperature network. With this purpose, defined solution includes the incorporation of thermal solar energy and the capacity of reusing reject heat from the new reversible heat pumps during cooling season, through a new ultra-low temperature network that will allow to reduce the operation temperature. Now it is time to deal with the administrative process to launch tender for construction works. Intervention is planned to be mainly executed by the first half of the next year.
“In the case of the Iurreta demonstrator, the project aims to transform the current district network that supplies energy to the Ertzaintza base in Iurreta into an ultra-low temperature network”.
Times are certainly tough, but despite the challenges, we are sure that this effort will allow to reach required changes, starting by meeting with the energy objectives at regional scale stablished by the Basque Government through the Energy Sustainability Law (Law 4/2019), and in a broader scope, it will contribute to pave the path to the necessary transition to de-carbonized and smart energy systems.
Let’s continue working to accelerate the energy transition process that has already started.