The Madrid City Council is promoting a pilot project in Orcasitas (Usera) that has already become a reference model for the European Union: it is a municipal leadership initiative based on installing solar roofs on buildings in the neighborhood, generating energy for self-consumption.
Álvaro González, delegate for Housing Policies, explained that “in the first phase of the project, solar panels will be installed on the Maestro Barbieri music school, seven residential buildings, two single-family homes and three commercial premises”. In total, there will be 265 new panels in the area.
Each neighbor adhering to the ecosolar neighborhood will have to pay approximately 100 euros, a reduced price thanks to the Plan Rehabilita, which covers 80% of the costs to the new energy community. González explains that the new installations “will improve the quality of life and lower the neighbors’ energy bills by up to 33%”.
Orcasitas: at the summit of sustainability
The delegate for Housing Policies has also pointed out that, according to the European Commission, “the new shared self-consumption plan is an example of good practice in energy efficiency” and a “model of collaboration between neighbors and institutions”.
The initiative is a milestone in the transformation of the Poblado Dirigido de Orcasitas, which has gone from living in energy poverty (a situation that significantly affected the neighbors in the area, with higher bills every year) to becoming one of the Madrid neighborhoods that consumes the least energy.