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Murcia avoids the emission of about 75 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year thanks to the tram’s solar panels
Mayor of Murcia, José Ballesta: “In these times of health crisis, working for the health of Murcia and environmental sustainability is a priority for the City of Murcia.”
The photovoltaic power station for the Tram service has an area of 2,400 m2 and has managed to reduce polluting emissions into the atmosphere, saving 74.83 tons of CO2 per year.
Mayor José Ballesta, together with the Councilor for Sustainable Development, has visited the photovoltaic installation of Tranvía de Murcia, which has an area of 2,400 square meters and whose operation began at the end of 2019. Thanks to this power station, the City Council avoids the emission of 74.83 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year .
“In these times of health crisis, working for the health of Murcia and environmental sustainability is a priority for the City of Murcia,” said José Ballesta, adding that ” the definitive commitment to sustainable development must be a commitment of all , to reach the goal of reducing our emissions by 40% by 2030 ”.
Since 2011, a total of 35,200 tons of CO2 have been emitted into the atmosphere thanks to the use of the Tram.
Since the City Council joined the Covenant of Mayors in 2008, it has committed to reducing emissions in the municipality by one fifth by 2020, a goal that has been achieved and exceeded: last year greenhouse emissions were lowered 20.6%.
In this context, Tranvía de Murcia expanded its commitment to environmental sustainability, not only with efficient, punctual, reliable and sustainable public transport, but also extrapolating this sustainability to its facilities, through actions that contribute to reducing CO2 emissions and improving the city’s air quality.
Design that allows to take advantage of 100% of the energy produced
Specifically, this photovoltaic installation which has a nominal power of 100 kW, in a self-consumption regime, without injection of energy into the grid – is located in the Murcia Tram service office and workshop building.
This power station manages to supply everything that is consumed in the building during commercial service hours and, in addition, the energy is used on the tram line, either at the stops or in the tram circulation itself.
Significant data
Thanks to this initiative, with photovoltaic panels, a significant environmental contribution is achieved, with the reduction of polluting emissions into the atmosphere of 74.83 tons of CO2 per year. Since its commissioning, the facility has generated 207,000 kWh of energy for self-consumption.
This new contribution will be added each year to the 35,297 tons of CO2 that have stopped being emitted in the streets of the city thanks to the use of the Tram since it was launched in 2011, equivalent to those that would have been produced if the passengers who use this transport will travel by private vehicle.
In addition, a monitoring system for the photovoltaic power station was installed in the Tranvía workshop building, which allows proper monitoring. As part of the municipal facilities, this station increases the total power installed in public buildings under municipal jurisdiction by 30%.
It should be noted that the assembly and electrical connection work were carried out entirely by Murcian companies, as well as the direction of execution of the installation.
Zero emission service
The energy that Tranvía de Murcia has acquired for this year 2020 and the next will be of 100% renewable origin. This measure makes Tranvia de Murcia a zero emission service, since all its electricity consumption is supplied with a 100% renewable certificate of origin (GdO).
Photo credits: Murcia.es
