Prullans has approved a project to guarantee electricity supply in the face of future blackouts with a collective self-consumption photovoltaic installation, batteries to store surpluses and a backup system that allows continued operation if the grid fails. The action, budgeted at 113.412 euros, plans to place the solar panels on the roof of one of the municipality's two social premises.
The mayor, Albert Maurell, defended the measure considering that an emergency supply "is totally necessary after what has been experienced". The decision comes after the great blackout that affected all of Spain on April 28 of last year, an episode that has accelerated in the last year the implementation of electrical storage systems.
More municipalities study to reinforce self-consumption
Prullans' initiative is not an isolated case. Other Lleida town councils are studying complementing their self-consumption solar installations with batteries to store surplus energy during off-peak hours. In some cases, the incorporation of diesel generators is also being considered to ensure an emergency supply in the event of serious and prolonged incidents.
That movement coincides with the advance of large energy storage projects. The regions of Lleida only concentrate two of the more than one hundred battery projects that are in processing in Catalonia, while among the proposals for other technologies is the enlargement of the Moralets reversible hydroelectric power plant, a file whose processing depends on the State.
Environmental green light to three hybrid power plants
The Generalitat has given the environmental green light to the first hybrid power plants in Lleida. The renewable energy committee has issued a favorable environmental declaration for three projects by the Austrian multinational RP Global, which are now pending the approval of Urban Planning.
The plants, called Martí, Sant Roc and Gardeny, are distributed across lands in Urgell and La Conca de Barberà, in Tarragona. The three projects combine solar panels, wind turbines and batteries to store energy.
Together they add up to 109 megawatts of wind power with 18 wind turbines, in addition to 30 solar megawatts with 42,000 photovoltaic panels over an area of 60 hectares. To this is added a 5.65-megawatt battery installation, with a two-hour autonomy.
Distribution of facilities in the territory
The majority of the deployment will concentrate in several municipalities of Urgell. Seven of the wind turbines are planned in Guimerà, where all the solar panels of the three plants will also be located. Nalec will host one wind turbine and Ciutadilla will have five more.
Ciutadilla will also house more than 156,000 square meters for the battery facilities of the three projects. The power lines to evacuate the energy generated by the wind turbines and the panels will be distributed among Guimerà, Nalec, Ciutadilla and Vallbona de les Monges.
The advance of these energy solutions, both at a municipal scale and in large facilities, reflects a change in priority in the territory. The objective is no longer just to produce renewable electricity, but to have room for maneuver when the grid fails and keep basic services running during prolonged outages.