Lisbon, a solar city

On May 3rd, international day of the sun, our member Lisboa E-Nova, the Energy and Environment Agency of Lisbon launched SOLIS, a platform to offer citizens, local authorities, investors and businesses the possibility to gather information on solar energy potential in the city.

When thinking about Lisbon, the warm weather and the beautiful architecture are some of the top things that come to mind. Lisbon is a sunny city, with a total solar radiation on its rooftops amounting to 7 times its electricity consumption in 2016.

An ambitious solar strategy

Lisboa Cidade Solar® (Lisbon Solar City) is Lisbon’s solar strategy and an integral part of the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP), approved by the municipality in the framework of the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. Based on this strategy, they city set some ambitious goals:

• To have, by 2021, a cumulative PV capacity of 8 MW installed in buildings;
• To reach by 2021, a capacity of 2 MW installed in a centralized power plant feeding the public fleet of electrical buses and waste management trucks;
• To have by 2030, a cumulative capacity of 103 MW installed in the city.

SOLIS is supposed to be the cornerstone of this strategy. The project was the result of a partnership between the energy agency and the municipality. Co-financed by the Portuguese Ministry of the Environment, a multidisciplinary team of experts in Solar PV technologies, geographic Information Systems, cartography, communication and marketing worked on the platform.

Using appealing graphics and some key figures, SOLIS offers citizens, local authorities, investors and businesses three different mapping products, at three different scales – the city, the parish and the building:

• an updated solar radiation map, delivering the impinging amount of solar energy in the city’s roofs;
• a solar electricity generation map, both potential and (estimated) actual energy, with the additional functionality of estimating key self-consumption figures at building level for a specific citizen profile;
• an informative map of PV installations in the city and its evolution over time.

More than a map

But SOLIS is more than just a map: it gives citizens the opportunity to be involved in the local energy system. They can register their own solar systems and provide their feedback and testimonies. They have the possibility to estimate the electricity production from their rooftop and the associated investment and revenue. Also, the platform offers information on market rules and educational content such as infographics and short animated films. It should generate a new generation of solar energy citizens.

Solar Cities initiative

The international day of the sun was a very busy day for Lisbon! The city also hosted the launch of the Solar Cities Initiative, supported by the United Nation Development Programme, Energy Cities and the Citizen Energy platform. Solar Cities aims to boost the solar energy project but also citizens’ participation in the energy transition all over the world. Mayors willing to join the initiative can do so by signing the Solar Mayor Charter.
Read more about SOLIS on the Renewable Networking Platform website