The project “Energy Communities of the Region of Murcia” is presented at the FMRM
During the event, one of the 30 energy vouchers worth €90 will be handed out, which will be allocated to families in Bullas who are in a situation of energy poverty.
This morning, the Federation of Municipalities of the Region of Murcia hosted the presentation of the project “Energy Communities of the Region of Murcia”, where the initiative of the “Solidarity Energy Bank” of Bullas was also discussed.
Energy is undoubtedly the major issue on the table in terms of the Environment, and one in which the FMRM has been involved for several months to obtain European funding in order to be able to carry out a project of this type of communities with several municipalities in the region.
For this reason, the federation has opened its doors for the presentation of this initiative as a model to follow. María Dolores Muñoz, President of the FMRM and mayor of Bullas, the municipality that is the protagonist of the event, was present at the event, as well as those responsible for the Solar project and the Engineering Efficiency consultancy, and César Nicolás, Dean of the College of Technical Engineers of the region. The event was closed by the Government Delegate in the Region of Murcia, José Vélez.
Project model
This project was created with the primary aim of offering environmental, economic or social benefits to its members or partners, or to the locality in which it is developed. This type of Energy Community is within the category of “Renewable Energies”, defined in Royal Decree Law 23/2020, as well as in the European Directives.
This is the first Energy Community that not only generates electricity ten times cheaper than conventional electricity, an issue that has become a major concern for households and businesses, but also offers social benefits to the municipality of Bullas through the creation of this solidarity energy bank, a project that will increase the number of families who can benefit from these aids year after year.
This model finally places the citizen at the centre of the electrical system, being able to produce, consume, store and sell clean energy, and whose main objective is to offer environmental, economic or social benefits to its members or partners, as well as to the locality in which its activities are carried out, as in this case in the Bullas “seed” project.
These social benefits have already materialised in this project with the creation of the first “solidarity energy bank”, a project started in 2017 and promoted by Francisco Espin, project director, after being chosen by the citizens of Bullas from among the numerous projects presented in the participatory budgets.
This first project received €42.796 in aid for its expansion, which was followed by a second ongoing project, in turn subsidized with €42.840 from European funds managed through the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), which is dependent on the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
Thanks to this citizen initiative, the town of Bullas included this project in its Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Plan in 2018.
It should be noted that the project has been promoted from the beginning, with various groups and organisations officially expressing their interest in the project, including the Association of Industrial Technical Engineers of the Murcia region, the Federation of Municipalities of the Murcia region, and local commercial and ecological associations of the municipality.
