The effects of climate change are forcing us all to reform the current model of energy consumption against the clock.

On this path towards a more sustainable world, various governments and institutions are making steady progress in the use of renewable energies, as in the case of the City of Justice in Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.

This judicial, business and commercial complex is made up of 9 buildings that together occupy a surface area of over 232,000 square metres.

Most of the judicial offices of Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat are located here, but there are also commercial premises, offices and housing.

With the aim of decarbonising business and institutional buildings, thereby consolidating the energy transition plan with a sustainable approach, the companies Alterna Energía and URBICSA – Urbs ludex et Causidicus SA, launched a project consisting of the installation of solar panels in the City of Justice.

Solar panels and green energy in the City of Justice

URBICSA, the company responsible for the concession of the City of Justice, commissioned the design and execution of the project to Alterna Energía, a leading company with more than 15 years of experience in the development of integral photovoltaic self-consumption solutions.

The plan drawn up by Alterna Energia envisages the installation of 875 units of 545Wp modules on the terraces of buildings I, C, F, G, H and P of the judicial and business complex, thus achieving a power of 476 KWp.

The environmental impact of a project of this nature is significant, as the installation of the solar panels is expected to result in a considerable reduction in carbon emissions.

The company’s management explained that it will contribute to saving around 170 tonnes of CO2 per year.

To get a true picture of what this contribution means, a simple example is worthwhile: it is estimated that one tree stores around 167 kilos of CO2 per year, so it takes around 6 trees to neutralise one tonne of carbon.

In this sense, Alterna Energía’s solar panels project is equivalent to planting more than 10,000 trees.

Renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions

The central axis of the plan to be carried out at the City of Justice, whereby solar panels will be installed on the roofs of more than half of the buildings that make up the complex, aims to collaborate with the decarbonisation objective set by the European Union as part of the 2030 Agenda.

In line with the requirements of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the photovoltaic project will be a further step towards reducing emissions in a sector (buildings) identified as the generator of around 38% of greenhouse gases.

All measures taken in the race to reduce carbon emissions, such as the installation of solar panels, have a double advantage: in addition to having a favourable impact on the environment, they also reduce companies’ energy costs and increase their competitiveness.

A sustainable, complex and challenging project

“For us it is a very important challenge that is in line with our goal of decarbonising business and institutional buildings, something that will help us to achieve a real energy transition. URBICSA is an example of the change that society and the planet are asking for”, said Esther Morales, director of Alterna Energía.

Morales also pointed out the complexity of the project: as the terraces of the buildings do not have ample space to install solar panels, in some of them an additional metal framework – similar to a pergola – will be built to house the modules, making the most of the possibilities of solar energy collection.