Otxarkoaga aims to become an eco-neighbourhood with the setting up of an Energy Self-consumption Association

Shared self-consumption will enable the sharing of surplus energy generated by the solar panels of the F Shopping Centre and one of the five blocks of buildings being refurbished in Txotena Street.
The initiative of Bilbao Municipal Housing together with residents of the Bilbao neighbourhood is part of the Orain Otxar building renovation and urban regeneration project.

Residents of the Otxarkoaga neighbourhood in Bilbao who live in social housing flats and the local public body Bilbao Municipal Housing have set up an energy self-consumption association that will allow the surplus energy generated by the solar panels installed in the remodelled F Shopping Centre and in one of the five blocks of buildings being refurbished in Calle Txotena to be used to supply electricity to the homes in the area.

According to Jon Bilbao, Councillor for Housing and President of Municipal Housing, this initiative is part of the Orain Otxar project, which aims to turn Otxarkoaga into a socially sustainable eco-neighbourhood, with the involvement of the associative community. “This is the first experience of this nature in the city, the result of institutional collaboration and the shared commitment to the urban regeneration of the Department of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport of the Basque Government and Bilbao Municipal Housing”.

The aim is to distribute 50% of the energy production to the shopping centre itself and the premises located in its facilities, and the remaining 50% to the surrounding houses numbers and homes, within a radius of fewer than 500 metres.

In this way, the planned distribution contemplates the supply of electricity from the surplus generated by the solar panels to 9 doorways near the shopping centre and to 11 municipally-owned dwellings located in Txotena and Irumineta streets. The aim is to provide these homes, where people with vulnerability problems live, with clean energy from renewable sources.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 846707.

Otxar Opengela

Address: Avenida Pau Casals, No. 16, Otxarkoaga, Bilbao (In front of Plaza Kepa Enbeita)

Telephone: 946 85 19 32

E-mail: otxaropengela@vvmm.bilbao.eus

Txonta Opengela

Address: Calle Txonta No. 3, ground floor, Eibar

Telephone: 688 77 97 37

E-mail: txontabulegoa@eibar.eus

Opengela, as an example of urban regeneration in the Basque Country in a training day

Representatives of Bilbao Municipal Housing and Debegesa during their intervention.

A course of the Basque Institute of Public Administration (IVAP), aimed at civil servants and profesional, presents the cases of integral refurbishment in Otxarkoaga (Bilbao) and Txonta (Eibar), as well as in Lasarte-Oria and Durango.
In addition, Ignacio de la Puerta, Director of Territorial Planning and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government, explains the different actions that are being carried out in the Basque Country in terms of urban regeneration.
On the other hand, Gerardo Ruiz, architect and professor of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, presented the great economic and social potential of urban regeneration presents in Basque neighbourhoods.

A training day organised on Tuesday 16 February by the Basque Institute of Public Administration (IVAP) has oriented civil servants and professionals in the Basque Country on the technical and organisational aspects of urban regeneration. In order to make this known, it used the Opengela project, which is developing two pilot projects in Otxarkoaga (Bilbao) and Txonta (Eibar).

The aim of the course was to show the regulatory and administrative frameworks in the field of urban regeneration and the scales at which it can be developed, as well as to learn about technical and organisational aspects.

Representatives of two of Opengela’s partners, Bilbao Municipal Housing and Debegesa, have presented the comprehensive refurbishment they are carrying out in Otxarkoaga and Txonta. In the Bilbao neighbourhood, work is being carried out on five buildings which with a total of 16 house numbers and 240 homes. In the case of Txonta, the work is being carried out on 221 homes of 17 house numbers.

For his part, the Director of Territorial Planning and Urban Agenda of the Basque Country, Ignacio de la Puerta, was in charge of presenting the actions being carried out in the Basque Country in urban matters, including Opengela, the project driven by the Basque Government which looks to improve quality of life in cities through urban regeneration.

Gerardo Ruiz Palomeque, professor at the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Madrid and who collaborates with the Basque Government in the development of these actions, also participated in the conference. In his lecture, he explained the great economic and social potential of urban regeneration in the Basque neighbourhoods.

In addition to the representatives of Debegesa and Bilbao Municipal Housing, who coordinates the Txonta and Otxarkoaga offices, those responsible for two offices where the Opengela model has begun to be replicated, in the neighbourhoods of Aramotz (Durango) and Basaundi Bailara (Lasarte-Oria), aso participated and explained the actions they are carrying out.

The conference also included the sociologist Aitor Vallejo, founder of the European Research Survey, and the architect Sonia De Gregorio, who spoke about urban regeneration and the gender perspective.