Research analyzes energy poverty in La Cañada Real, Spain

In Madrid, approximately 4,000 people, almost half of La Cañada Real’s population, experience extreme energy poverty. This is one of the conclusions of a study by researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) that analyzed the energy use and needs of La Cañada Real Galiana residents from 2020 to 2022.

La Cañada Real Galiana crosses the municipalities of Coslada, Madrid, Rivas Vacia Madrid and Getafe, passing through the city of Madrid. Irregular buildings of various constructions (from chalets to substandard housing) stretch for 16 kilometers and are home to around 8,000 people.

The route is divided into six sectors, with different characteristics in terms of infrastructure and purchasing power of the population, and different prospects in terms of legalization of settlements. Sectors 5 and 6, especially the latter, have the worst basic living conditions. More than three years ago, electricity was cut off in these sectors, leaving more than 4,000 people without power, about 1,800 of whom were minors.

“We started the investigation on September 29, 2020 (after signing a cooperation agreement with the City of Madrid), but just three days later, on October 2, power supply was cut off in sectors 5 and 6. ” said one of the people involved. The researcher is Jorge Martínez Crespo, associate professor in the UC3M Department of Electrical Engineering. “We then focused on the impact of this power outage on homes in these sectors and measured the environmental conditions inside the homes,” he added.

What they found provides a global picture of social vulnerability, with seasonal extremes of cold and heat. “In households with some signs of instability (low income, poor building quality, inadequate equipment or houses affected by disconnections), the temperature in the most frequently used rooms is below 10°C in winter. , it is possible and even common to identify temperatures that are even above 40 degrees Celsius in summer, ”said another researcher, UC3M Appropriate Technologies for Sustainable Development says Ulpiano Luis Rivas Hernando, head of the group.

“This type of measure should allow us to identify the situation on the ground and allow political action to solve the problem,” said Ulpiano Ruiz-Rivas. In this sense, the report recommends restoring power supply in Sector 6, which has been without power since October 2020.

“It seems unjustifiable that no structural measures have been taken since the sudden power outage more than three years ago,” said the authors of the study, recently published in the journal Nature. Energy research and social science By Ulpiano Ruiz-Rivas and Jorge Martínez-Crespo, Sergio Tirado-Herrero (Autonomous University of Madrid) and Raúl Castaño Rosa (University of Tampere, Finland).

The four regret that supply was not diversified to account for the presence of other medium-voltage transmission lines in the area that could potentially alleviate overloads. They also noticed a lack of bids to develop collective self-consumption facilities from the nearest public facilities.

Researchers said the power outage also posed a “threat” to other sectors of La Cañada Real. As a result, residents in the area looked for alternative sources such as solar panels and diesel generators. These can be seen today at various points along the route and represent fundamental changes in terms of power generation or production.

“As a result of the emergency situation caused by electricity supply interruptions, insecurity has increased and cases of extreme energy poverty have emerged that are difficult to find in other parts of the EU and in the North in general,” says the project. It is stated in the report.

To conduct this study, an analysis of census data for the entire population of La Cañada was combined with a more specific survey of a sample of households. To this end, interviews on energy usage and needs were carried out on the one hand, and on the other hand, a campaign was carried out to measure the indoor environmental conditions of households, along with temporary monitoring of electricity supply continuity in sectors 5 and 6. Ta. of La Cañada. The researchers say that this approach made it possible to visualize and characterize the problems related to energy access faced by the residents of La Cañada Real Galiana.

A controversial situation in this area is the drug market located about a kilometer inside Sector 6. “Marijuana plantations have a lot of power demand, so logically there could be an energy impact, but we haven’t had that impact yet.” We took measurements in that area.

“But what we were able to measure was the impact of intervention on marijuana plantations, including the destruction of electrical equipment in the area and the consequent disruption of supply in certain areas and other neighbors living nearby. and the victims. It has nothing to do with that,” Jorge Martinez said.