Temuco gains insights from Barcelona
Districlima, with a 15 km network and 10 years of experience in district energy, passes lessons on to Temuco through DES Initiative's Twinning Cities program. One of the largest cooling networks in Europe, recognized in IEA's 2017 District Energy Climate Awards, motivates Temulco to be an aspiring district energy municipality through practical demonstration of project affordability and returns and energy effieciency gains.
District energy is a global energy solution, with integration maximizing energy efficiency in comparison to individual solutions, at least that’s how Districlima, and their main partner international energy giant Engie, see it. They have the numbers and several case studies to back up their position. Districlima has over 100MW of energy efficiently connected into its grid, making it one of the largest cooling networks in Europe. The network in Barcelona already stretches 15 km and has been growing consistently for the past 10 years.
As part of the twinning cities scheme, District Energy in Cities (DES) Initiative organized a trip, sponsored by its partner Engie, for the Municipality of Temuco (Chile) to visit and learn from Barcelona’s first district energy network, operated by Districlima. From the 7th to 8th of September 2017 the Energy Agency of Barcelona explained the many lessons learned as they built this project from conception in 2003 to implementation to realizing monumental energy savings today, including how they managed to attract investment for Barcelona’s pioneer district energy project.
The guidance in best practices that cities like Barcelona can share with cities considering district energy is integral to facilitate the adoption of this technology across the globe and ensures its implementation is improving by magnitudes in each new city implementing district energy.
To meet the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 7 by 2030 we must double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency. District energy is one of our greatest assets in this mission and the twinning cities endeavor of DES Initiative, alongside and supported by its partner Engie, is helping to fuel the rapid transmission of this tool in countries oceans apart.
Engie is currently sponsoring a feasibility study in Temulco to map out the possibility of DE implementation in Temulco, making it much easier for the city to attract investment and make practical advances towards district energy.
Temulco has been inspired by their experiences of Barcelona’s District Energy system, citing DE’s ability to address air pollution as an added bonus in addition to the many other benefits DE will bring.
