One of the most recognizable icons of Barcelona at the beginning of the 21st century will soon have to undergo an operation to catch up. Next year, the City Council plans to undertake the restoration of the Forum’s photovoltaic pergola, a very first-generation installation, to replace damaged or obsolete elements and to increase, by applying the latest technologies, the production capacity energy
Cristina Castells, director of Energy and Environmental Quality at Barcelona City Council, has confirmed that the large plaque installed for the celebration of the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures will be subject to an update which, basically, will consist of in the replacement of the old modules with others that will increase the efficiency of this energy-generating infrastructure.
A report drawn up for Barcelona City Council by Sulmag engineering, specialist in the design and installation of photovoltaic solar systems, indicates that, especially in the last three years, the Forum’s pergola has presented several problems in its operation : breakage of the surface glasses of the modules that have produced moisture and leaks on the ground, deterioration of the connection boxes, delay in the response time to solve incidents due to problems with accessibility to the installation, and temporary ones, such as the Gloria, which caused detachments of modules and junction boxes. The location of the large plate next to the sea and the intense salinity of this space accelerates its deterioration, although the truth is that the installation, already almost twenty years old, has passed with flying colors the passage of time and erosion. The useful life of the latest generation installations is around 25-30 years.
The Forum pergola has a nominal potential of 375 kW and a peak (maximum) power of 443.52 kW. With the planned update, an additional 185 kW peak can be added.
The technical report to which this newspaper has had access points to three possible future scenarios. The first would consist of the sale of the increased power at market price. The power equivalent to the current remuneration regime would maintain the premium established by the State for this type of installation and the increase in power obtained would be sold at market price.
This option would require interconnection to the medium voltage network. From the royal decree 18/2022 which allows the increase of the distance for the connection of shared plants to 1 kilometer, and which is planned to go to two kilometers, self-consumption could be carried out shared with municipal buildings of the resulting extension. In this case, it would be necessary to incorporate an exclusive transformation center for the photovoltaic solar plant and a new measurement center, which would imply a significant increase in the cost of the project.
The third scenario, without having to invest in a new medium-voltage infrastructure, presents a mixed formula: sale of surpluses and self-consumption of part of the power expansion.
The characteristics of the Forum’s pergola, in a certain way a modern sculpture, make more substantial modifications of the installation unfeasible, such as an increase in its surface area. The pergola, an inclined plane of 35 degrees that rises up to 50 meters above sea level and is visible at a distance of up to 30 km, has a surface similar to that of a football field.
