There have been many stories about innovative locations for solar farms, but the project in Valencia, on Spain’s east coast, is amazing.

It’s planning to turn its cemeteries into the country’s largest urban solar farm, a project it calls Requiem in Power.

Valencia plans to install 6,658 solar panels in local cemeteries. About 810, already placed in Grau, Campanar and Benimàmet cemeteries, will generate a total power supply of more than 440,000 kilowatts per year and save more than 140 tons a year of carbon dioxide emissions. 

The energy will mostly be used to power municipal buildings, but 25% will also go to 1,000 vulnerable households. 

Alejandro Ramon, Valencia’s Councilor for Climate Emergency and Energy Transition, said the project will become the largest ufban solar farm in Spain. RIP is part of the wider Valencia 2030 Climate Mission, which is one of the key reasons the city was selected to be the 2024 European Green Capital. 

“We are effectively in a situation of climate emergency here in Valencia,” he said. He thought of the idea when the previous administration was in power. “We suffer droughts and extreme heat. It’s necessary to speed up the transition, but sometimes in cities it’s difficult to find large free spaces to install renewable energy.”

Ramon, whose job involved the food system, cemeteries, and climate change, noticed that there was extra room over mausoleums when he was visiting one of the city’s cemeteries. “After consulting with technicians,” he says, “they told me that the roofs of the niches were perfectly suitable for installing solar panels.”

The long-term aim of the Climate Missions is to generate 27% of energy for the city from renewable sources and incorporate it into infrastructure and public buildings by 2030. The city will also only use LEDs for public lighting.

Another cemetery project is at Saint-Joachim. a cluster of islands located in the middle of the Brière marsh, which is a vast peat bog north of the Loire estuary in France. By 2025, a 1.3-megawatt solar canopy will cover the cemetery and supply electricity for the commune’s 4,000 residents who will eventually have a share in the energy it produces for an entry fee of just €5.

In the town of around 4,000 people, some 420 residents have officially registered their interest in joining the project. For an entry fee of just €5, they will eventually have a share in the energy it produces.

The structure will also collect rainwater for an adjacent sports complex, which will help reduce flooding.

Sources:

‘A beautiful idea’: This French town is making its cemetery a source of solar energy. Euronews.green, Mar. 12 2024

This Spanish city plans to turn its cemeteries into the country’s largest urban solar farm. Euronews.green, May 31 2024

These Spanish cemeteries now double as solar farms. Fast Company, Jun 7 2024

Cover image: St Joachim township