Naturgy and the Energy Research Institute of Catalonia (IREC) have launched a pilot system to improve the energy efficiency in the therapeutic and educational center within the “Acompanya’m” project in Sant Joan de Déu, inside the Monastery of Valldonzella, in the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district of Barcelona. The solution manages in an intelligent and autonomous manner the generation of photovoltaic energy and its storage in batteries for self-consumption, while satisfying the service needs of the building.
The initiative is part of the European project GrowSmarter on Smart Cities. IREC has designed a smart energy management system that optimizes its management. The pilot demonstrates the technical feasibility and lower costs of the solution, showing the potential for the integration of renewable energy on a large scale. Not only does it improve the energy management of buildings, it also decreases the impact on the environment by reducing the footprint of greenhouse gases.
The system autonomously coordinates the charging and discharging of the batteries and communicates with the other elements to make decisions. It incorporates artificial intelligence technologies, which learn how the center works based on its behavior and experience. This integrates factors such as weather forecast, energy market price, building demand forecast.
You can find the related press release in Catalan and Spanish:
This project has received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 646456.
