The deliverable D6.8 Report on management of +CityxChange replication in Sestao was submitted by Sestao Berri in October 2023 . The executive summary of the deliverable is available below and the full deliverable is at the end for download:
“The +CityxChange project played a crucial role in guiding Sestao in the process of creating PEBs and sparking its mission to deploy renewable energy installations at a city-wide scale. Sestao has set its SECAP and Covenant of Mayors commitments to reduce its municipal CO2 emissions to 55% by 2030 (benchmarking against 2009 emission levels). Thanks to the SeSmart project, which was developed out of +CityxChange, it expects to reach that milestone by 2026. Achieving this could position the city as a renewable energy model.
Sestao entered the project with some favorable conditions in Demonstration Area 1, including already retrofitted residential blocks and a biomass-operated district heating system. The project faced 2 major challenges: sourcing local renewable electrical power and finding the finance for retrofitting the remaining buildings.
A significant development occurred in Task 6.5, where the project connected with the European Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF) and secured €200,000 to create the SeSmart project. This initiative includes 8 photovoltaic installations, energy refurbishment for 5 municipal buildings, 8 electric vehicles, 8 e-charging stations, and a digital energy monitoring platform. A small-scale hydrogen plant (44 t/year) had to get canceled due to incompatibility with municipal code. The total expected investment for the approved improvements is ~€5 million. The public tender for SeSmart is expected for Q4 2023/Q1 2024. DA1 buildings will be prioritized in getting renewable energy supplied to them first.
Task 3.6, “Framework for an Innovation Playground,” initiated a “Wikipedia of Sustainability” project, which aims to create a crowdsourced database for sustainable practices and products. The Basque Government granted it €66,419.25 and the potential for scaling the project to the Basque Country. It may get presented to a Horizon Europe call.
Task 3.2, “Promoting Citizen Participation,” led to the successful organization of a Climathon in collaboration with 2 neighboring municipalities. This effort opened channels of communication and inspired Santurtzi to apply for the EEEF Technical Assistance program.
A setback for Sestao’s +CityxChange project is funding, which has not yet reached the required €10 million to fully retrofit the Escuela de Aprendices building. Nevertheless, €3 million in non-refundable grants have been secured and will allow to renovate the building´s exterior shell. The building is expected to start becoming operational by 2026, marking the final step in making DA1 a working PEB.”
