The city takes electricity from the cemetery

To solve the power shortage, a city in Spain for installing hundreds of solar panels in the cemetery to produce electricity.

The city of Santa Coloma de Gramenet has 124,000 inhabitants, but the area is only 4 square kilometers. Therefore, the population density here is up to 31,000 people / square kilometer. The flat, plentiful sunshine of Santa Coloma is so rare that only the cemetery is the best place to put solar panels.

The electricity that 462 solar panels generate is enough for 60 households in a year and is connected to the city's electricity network. 'Clean energy production is the most significant thing we can do for generations to come,' said Esteve Serret, director of Conste-Live Energy. Conste-Live Energy manages the city's cemetery and also sells renewable energy.

Solar panels in the Santa Coloma de Gramenet city cemetery.Photo: AP.

Most solar panels face south to be able to receive the most light. They began operating on November 19. Initially, the idea of ​​putting solar cells in the names of graves faced opposition from many people. 'They said it was a crazy idea, that it insulted our ancestors,' said Antoni Fogue, a member of the city council.

City officials and cemetery management companies conducted a propaganda campaign to help people understand the meaning and benefits of the project. They finally succeeded. 'There are no problems, because people find everything in the cemetery still the same. We put the panels on the lower corner so as not to create a sense of disrespect to the soul of the dead, ' Antonio said.

The cemetery has about 57,000 graves and panels only account for nearly 5% of its area. The cost of buying and installing panels is 720,000 euros. Each year they reduce about 62 tons of CO ₂ in the atmosphere.

The city government hopes that the number of solar panels will increase in the future. Previously, the city has carried out 4 projects on installing solar cells on the roofs of buildings, but the project in the cemetery has the largest capacity.