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.