Demo Zaragoza

Balsas de Ebro Viejo, Zaragoza, Spain

The city of Zaragoza is the capital city of the autonomous Aragonese region, located in the north-east of Spain. The city is known for its folklore, local cuisine, and various landmarks and historic buildings. As of 2021 the city has over 675,000 inhabitants, and is thereby the fifth biggest city in Spain. InCUBE’s demonstration site is located in the Balsas de Ebro Viejo district which lies in the north of the historic city centre.

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Demo Zaragoza

ChallEnges

The Balsas de Ebro Viejo District is a working-class neighbourhood constructed in 1971 with several plans for the rehabilitation as part of the District Plan, focused on achieving Efficient  Energy Districts  promoted by the National Recovery Plan.

HOW INCUBE CONTRIBUTES TO UNLOCK THE EU BUILDING RENOVATION WAVE

Balsas de Ebro Viejo is one of the priority districts of Zaragoza to be refurbished in the next years. So far 17 blocks have already been granted aid. Estimations indicate that in previous years a  total investment of €400,000 was  needed per block (€40,000 per residence) to achieve energy savings of at least 60% (due to the increase of prices, this quantity is already changing). To face this investment, there are several potential scenarios depending on the funding received from the Next Generation funds for district rehabilitation, which will depend on the energy saving achieved per building. InCUBE aims to achieve an 88.5% reduction in energy consumption in the Spanish demo and therefore, the best- case scenario is expected, which means a total private owner’s investment of less than €70 per month. 

InCUBE will fully rehabilitate a 3,200m2 privately owned residential building located in the Balsas de Ebro Viejo District. The building was built in 1971 and accommodates a total of 80 inhabitants. The energy needs of the building will be reduced by 88,5% and the renewable energy production will be increased to 173MWh per year.  Specific problems identified include poor insulation, and thermal leaks in the building’ envelope. Renovation interventions are expected to improve building energy efficiency and accessibility, especially for elderly residents.

Interventions

InCUBE will strengthen and extend these existing initiatives through several innovative interventions at a building and neighbourhood level:

  • Decreasing building energy consumption by using high performance windows and frames, insultation material for façades and roof.
  • Increasing building energy production using (Building-Integrated) Photovoltaics and Hybrid Thermal Solar Panels.
  • Maximizing self-consumption by using a monitored storage systems to provide Domestic Hot Water (DHW)
  • Increasing building rehabilitation, scanning and monitoring using digital process solutions.
  • Creating a Renewable Energy Community at neighbourhood level by deploying two solar installations of 50 kWp each aiming that more than 200 dwellings will join. 

Replication Potential

The replication potential of the Balas complex is huge, as the district itself already counts 129 additional buildings, 124 of which are architecturally similar to InCUBE buildings. This provides for a high replicability potential for such solutions, considering a total of 1,531 residence’s in the district. The Balsas complex is one of 21 complexes that were built in Zaragoza with similar features in the 1960’s, further strengthening replicability potential across the city.

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