Alex Trelinski
VALENCIA City Council has erected four solar trees to charge electronic devices at a cost of over €370,000.
The project uses solar panels in tree-shaped structures to generate power.
The PV trees can charge small electric vehicles, bikes, scooters, skateboards, phones, tablets, and other electronic devices.
READ MORE:
- This region in Spain wants to turn graveyards into solar farm
- First vertical solar energy park tests in Spain taking place in Valencia
They also provide useful shade, as they are more than six metres high.
Each 3.6 kW tree has an energy potential of 1,550 kWh and 5,600 kWh of maximum annual production, except for one tree along the Turia River, which will generate 2,657 kWh per year.
The council is also finalising the installation of smart pavements in the Benimaclet, Benimamet and Patraix districts.
The new pavements will provide solar charging for personal mobility vehicles.
Another Valencia initiative is ‘Requiem in Power’- shortened appropriately to RIP- where solar panels will be placed in cemeteries.
The RIP plan aims to install 6,658 photovoltaic panels across the city’s cemeteries to generate 27% of the city’s energy from renewable sources.
The panels are being installed on top of crypts and other structures in five public cemeteries with the aim of creating a total generating capacity of 2.8 megawatts.
So far, 810 panels have been placed in three cemeteries at Grau, Campanar and Benimamet.
They are capable of producing 440,000 kilowatts of electricity per year which will eliminate 140 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
When finished, the total number of panels will see RIP become the largest urban solar farm in Spain.
