Counting 31 partners (28 particulars and 3 municipality associates), Ekogella, Ispaster’s very own Energy Community, has hit the ground running – it is waiting to formalise its paperwork to start off with 100kWp in 10-12 connection points by the end of the year.
Ispaster, with Barrizar’s intervention, managed to finance a self-supply system installed on the local church. The electricity generated by this (33-35 kWp) will power two bars, a sports complex, and the church itself.
A parallel proposal has been made to transform the heating system of the building. Trading the old gasoil boiler for an expansion of district heating.
Currently, there are 4 capped ZIV meters supporting 10 connection points, supplied by batteries and PV installations owned by the municipality; the idea would be to invest in meters that can be plugged into the grid once funds are available.
(Update: the new electric meters installed in the micro grid were connected and functional as from February 2024)
A charging point for electric cars has become a bit of a travel destination for the towns in the region. Due to poor charging port access elsewhere, neighbouring towns make the trek to make use of the PV powered service using the Place to Plug app.
This energy has resulted in net savings for the municipality – it is charged at a standard price and produced cheaply.
With help of LocalRES and others, Ispaster has also secured an electric vehicle for the municipal cleaning crew.
We look forward to seeing how this develops!