It will all start in a building, in this case a school. Then, an entire island will follow, and later on, towns, cities and, who knows, regions or even entire countries. O 2030 breech, a pilot project of energy transition with a European scope, is already underway and will present the path it has taken so far in a workshop that started yesterday, at the CCDR headquarters in Algarve, in the center of Faro, and ends today, the 14th, on the barrier island that gives the project its name.
On Wednesday, the 12th, one day before the start of international workshop “Culatra, A Sustainable Energy Community”, representatives of the University of Algarve (UAlg), the Association of Residents of Ilha da Culatra (AMIC), the Non-Governmental Organization Make it Better and the Secretariat for Clean Energy were in conversation with the journalists at the headquarters of the CCDR, in Faro.
About a year after have been selected by the European Secretariat for Clean Energy in the Islands (Clean Energy for EU Islands) to be one of the six pilot projects for the energy transition, at European level, and to point the way for this change, the entities that lead the process revealed what they have already done so far and pointed out some goals for the future – which, by the way, , have been doing it since yesterday, together with the many project partners.
In November, the schedule for transition to clean energy from Culatra, the document that will serve as a basis for all the work that will be developed in the next decade.
In this document, five major areas of action are pointed out, from the outset to energy, since one of the main objectives of Culatra 2030 is to make this island self-sustainable, from an energy point of view, using natural sources, namely the sun, through photovoltaic panels .
But this transition agenda also touches on other areas, such as water, waste, building air conditioning and maritime transport.
“Right now we are already developing work in the field. In this last year, many entities have joined the project, from companies such as EDP Distribuição and Sun Concept, but also public entities. Our biggest victory was having managed to have with us the seven entities with jurisdiction in the territory», summarized André Pacheco, coordinator of Culatra 2030 and researcher at the Marine and Environmental Research Center (CIMA) at UAlg.
Culatra is at the center of a veritable set of jurisdictions, taking into account the number of entities that have a say in part or all of the island: the Chamber of Faro, CCDR, the Captaincy of the Port of Olhão, Docapesca, the Portuguese Environment Agency – ARH do Algarve, the Natural Park of Ria Formosa/ICNF and Sociedade Polis.
And what has already been done, specifically?
“We submitted a proposal to the Mar 2020 Operational Program to equip AMIC with solar panels for charging electrosolar boats. This will allow nurseries to have a boat that does not use fossil fuels. In the future, this will make it possible to certify Culatra's bivalves as being Carbon Zero», revealed André Pacheco.
There are also projects to equip various equipment with photovoltaic solar panels, namely «the school, fishing support, the Social Center, the headquarters of AMIC», among others.
“Culatra's school has all the necessary conditions to be fully autonomous, given the orientation of the building and the location where it is located”, he said.
At the same time, the Culatra 2030 was «developing work with the entities, in order to be able to make a more efficient management of the founders, in partnership with Docapesca and the PNRF».
In this case, the idea is, on the one hand, to regulate the parking of sailboats along the island – “there are even more than 300 boats anchored here, in the summer, without any criteria and without knowing what they do to the waste,” recalled Sílvia Padinha, from AMIC -, and, on the other hand, to work as a means of financing a fund that will be created to help residents install photovoltaic tiles in their homes.
“We managed to create a protocol between the three associations on the island [AMIC, Associação União Culatrense and Associação Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes] to start implementing measures to reduce plastic. A single metal cup has already been created, which will be used in all festivities and initiatives that take place on the island, so that we can drastically reduce the pollution inside the Ria Formosa», said André Pacheco.
The same protocol provides for the creation of a fund that will allow homeowners to replace the current roofs, which mostly contain asbestos, with photovoltaic roofs, managing, at once, to remove potentially carcinogenic material and place individual dwellings to contribute to the goal of the island's energy self-sustainability.
The support to be awarded will not be non-refundable, but neither will “interest be charged”, which, in itself, “is already a precious help”.
On the other hand, those responsible for the project, within the scope of a «European consortium with three of the largest energy distributors in Europe: EDP Distribuição, Indesa and EDF», put forward another application, in this case to Horizon 2020, managed directly by the European Commission, for a “demonstrator of smart grid concepts, with intelligent distribution for the Culatra community”.
After all, highlights André Pacheco, the idea of the Culatra 2030 «is not achieving energy autonomy, but decentralized production», which allows the island to give the same or more energy to the grid than it consumes.
In other words, «we don't want to take the market away from EDP». Basically, a recent change in the law will be taken advantage of, which allows consumers to be, at the same time, producers, and which obliges distribution companies to create mechanisms to host and distribute it in their global network.
All of this was decided in partnership with the local community. «We have been evolving this project and the population has evolved with us», summarized Silvia Padinha, president of AMIC.
If that were not the case, it would be better not to move forward, he believes, since a project of this nature "is only viable if it is economically and socially possible."
Part of the challenges have to do with habits of preservation and protection of nature, namely with the reduction of plastics. And, guarantees Silvia Padinha, they are being taken seriously by the people of Cula.
«On Fisherman's Day, we used single cups for the first time, and when the party was over, it was amazing to see that there was no trash on the floor. No plastic cups and waste», he said.
On the other hand, a project was started to reuse the abandoned networks, “also called ghosts”, which are being transformed into bags. "These bags are given to tourists, who are challenged to bring their own garbage and other that they find on the beach, so that we can deposit it in the correct places", revealed the president of AMIC.
At the same time, other projects are underway, such as “composting and the creation of community gardens”.
These and other victories of those responsible for Culatra 2030 are being presented to different partners since yesterday, at the workshop “Culatra, A Sustainable Energy Community”.
Here, according to José Nunes, from Make it Better, the results of a year of work will be presented, namely those of the participatory diagnosis that this non-profit organization made in Culatra.
The NGO worked “with different groups in the community” and promoted multiple meetings, during which it challenged the people of Cula to explain what needs they felt, not only in terms of energy, but in all areas.
This allowed for the creation of action plans, which “will be like reservoirs for projects”. Here, a little of everything fits, from energy autonomy to the water problem, which can be solved with a desalination plant, but also issues such as access to healthcare and answers for the elderly.
Make it Better's experience was positive, admits José Nunes, who doesn't spare praise from the people of Culatr. “They understand sustainability issues like no one else, because they deal with them on a daily basis. There are many prejudices in relation to these communities, but passing through there, as we did, they do not survive», he said.
Maja Jurisic, the representative of the European Secretariat for Clean Energy in the Islands, also highlighted the strong sense of community and “the relationship of trust that already existed between the association and the population”. Allied to the academic support guaranteed by UAlg, this was one of the reasons that led this European Union entity to choose Culatra as one of the pilot projects that will point the way for the energy transition in Europe.
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