Jumilla is saving money and energy with sunshine

The town hall has fitted solar panels to numerous public buildings

Jumilla town hall has been making investments to save taxpayers’ money and reduce the amount of electricity it uses, by installing solar panels on municipal buildings, particularly schools and sporting facilities.

This initiative will enable the energy consumption of these installations to be reduced by over 60%, and will cut their electricity bills in half, according to a spokesperson for the council.

These places include the San Francisco infant and primary school, with 166 panels providing 63 kilowatts of power, the indoor heated swimming pool with 220 panels to generate up to 83kW, and the Roque Baños socio-cultural centre with 28 panels (10kW).

Panels have also been fitted to the Miguel Hernández, Príncipe Felipe, Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Carmen Conde and Mariano Suárez schools, which can each produce between 10 and 20kW.

The installations have a minimum useful life of 35 years and their maintenance will be taken care of by the developers of the Cerrillares I and Balbona solar power plants, in order to ensure that they work properly in the long term.

They also include remote monitoring systems to control the production and usage of energy in real time.

This project forms part of the measures to compensate for the environmental impact of the solar plants that have been set up in the municipality over the last few years.

One condition was to compensate for the loss of the affected land’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), and it was decided to do this with systems that enable public buildings to generate their own electricity.

Mayor Seve González noted that the work on the indoor pool and the Principe Felipe school received the AENOR Energy Management System Certificate this week.

“This measure is beneficial for Jumilla in two ways: firstly it improves sustainability, and secondly it represents a significant financial saving for the municipal coffers by cutting the electricity bill for these buildings in half,” she said.

“With this project, Jumilla Town Hall is reinforcing its commitment to energy efficiency and making progress towards more efficient management of public resources by investing in clean and sustainable energy.”

Images: Ayuntamiento de Jumilla