Asprela + Sustentável Project creates systems for Porto’s first renewable energy community
Tendo With the energy sector as its central vector, Efacec actively participates in the Asprela + Sustentável project, which aims to create, in a disruptive way, the first renewable energy community in Porto.
Through the Asprela + Sustentável project, the first Renewable Energy Community (REC) in the city of Porto will be created, between the homes of over 180 families from the Agra Amial neighbourhood and the Agra Primary School. Within this scope, renewable energy generation systems (photovoltaic) will be installed by the Municipality of Porto on the roofs of some buildings.
Efacec, as a partner of the Asprela + Sustainable project, will implement its Flexergy range of electrochemical electrical energy storage systems, specifically one of them, the Battery Block composed of second-life batteries (from electric vehicles) as a way to contribute to an increasingly circular economy. The CER concept will be materialised through the so-called Efacec eHub, which, in addition to the aforementioned assets, includes dedicated and integrated energy management software, considering homes and schools as consumers, energy generation and storage assets and energy production and consumption forecasting techniques based on artificial intelligence algorithms.
The solutions proposed under the Asprela + Sustentável will generate relevant impacts in the selected urban space, but also in the city and the region. The measures to be implemented are aimed at efficient energy management, increasing the penetration of energy from renewable sources, reducing waste production by maximising its reuse and recycling, aiming to take concrete steps towards a circular model for managing the food system and providing data for policy makers through the provision of dedicated platforms.
Asprela + Sustentável complements the commitments already undertaken by the city of Porto in the fight against climate change, but also anticipates some projects foreseen in the Roadmap for the Circular Economy.
The project is aligned with Efacec’s ambition to actively participate in the energy transition and decarbonisation, reinforcing its purpose – “Creating a smarter future, for a better life” – contributing to the global objectives of sustainability and good municipal practices.
The project will be implemented until December 2023 in the Asprela area, in Paranhos, and will be a living laboratory aimed at mitigating climate change with the objective of tending towards carbon neutrality in the city of Porto. It was approved with the highest classification of the projects in the competition, under the program “Environment, Climate Change and Low Carbon Economy”, promoted by EEA Grants.
Efacec is a partner in this project, which has the collaboration of Coopérnico – Cooperativa de Desenvolvimento Sustentável C.R.L. The technical coordination is the responsibility of AdEPorto – Agência de Energia do Porto, in collaboration with the Municipality of Porto and other partners, namely Associação Porto Digital, municipal companies Porto Ambiente and Águas e Energia do Porto, INEGI, INESC-TEC, VPS, EVIO, the Academic Federation of Porto and International Development Norway.
