"TECNALIA works with Madrid City Council on integrating, modelling and analysing large volumes of data”
The analysis provides a detailed overview of Madrid’s heating demand to support the planning of more sustainable heating and cooling solutions
Madrid City Council has started preparing its future Local Heating and Cooling Plan by carrying out a comprehensive assessment of the city’s stock of heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) systems. This project was carried out with the support of TECNALIA and will provide a detailed overview of Madrid’s energy situation and lay the foundations for the future planning of efficiency and decarbonisation measures.
- The initiative was prompted by the Energy Efficiency Directive (EU) 2023/1791, which requires municipalities with more than 45,000 inhabitants to have such plans in place.
- Although the legislation has not yet been implemented into Spanish law, Madrid decided to move forward with the initiative in order to obtain an accurate picture of its energy situation and speed up the process of defining future decarbonisation and efficiency measures.
A data-driven energy analysis
Data from Madrid City Council, the Community of Madrid, gas and electricity suppliers and various open sources were compiled and processed to carry out this analysis. The study is a combination of information on energy consumption, building characteristics, energy performance certificates, land registry data and socio-economic variables such as household income.
The result is a high-resolution, area-specific analysis that provides an insight into the energy situation in each neighbourhood, identifies the predominant heating and cooling technologies, and assesses opportunities for improvement.
Key findings include the prominence of natural gas and electricity as the two main energy sources in the city’s buildings, and significant differences between neighbourhoods in terms of energy consumption, the prevalence of more polluting boilers such as those fuelled by diesel, the age of the building stock and the potential for renovation.
Support for planning more sustainable air conditioning systems
As part of this initiative, TECNALIA worked with Madrid City Council on integrating, modelling and analysing large volumes of data, and turning them into useful information for decision-making. The work will also identify more efficient technological alternatives with a lower environmental impact, evaluate measures for both individual buildings and neighbourhoods, and analyse different energy transition scenarios.
This assessment has provided Madrid with a solid technical and knowledge base from which to design a heating and cooling model that is more efficient, resilient and in line with European climate neutrality targets.
Find out more in this recording of the webinar entitled “Key Issues in the Implementation of Heating and Cooling Plans”
TECNALIA recently organised a webinar on Heating and Cooling Plans, which is available to watch.
During the webinar, Madrid City Council presented the results of the study. Furthermore, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge set out the regulatory framework and the timetable for implementation.