Caxias Living Lab comes to live as a testbed for energy solutions | Upcoming Energies

The Caxias Living Lab was inaugurated on 13 March and was attended by Oeiras City Council councillor Nuno Neto, the President of the União de Freguesias de Oeiras, S. Julião da Barra, Paço de Arcos e Caxias, Maria Madalena Silva Castro, as well as Vera Vicente, from the Commercial area, Ana Casaca and Carla Tavares from Galp Innovation.

This is a collaborative experience that puts citizens at the centre of the energy transition, offering them the opportunity to produce their own energy, reduce consumption and increase their energy efficiency. To this end, participants have at their disposal more than 200 solar panels, batteries, heat pumps, electric charging points that can return energy to homes and an innovative community battery, among other technologies that will be added over the course of the project. 

Among the 10 producers and 20 consumers of green energy generated in the ecosystem are the Nossa Senhora do Vale Primary School and Kindergarten, the Nossa Senhora das Dores Community and Parish Centre, the Caxias Municipal Market and private homes. In this energy community, the green electrons produced by photovoltaic panels are used to power heat pumps and electric water heaters, replacing old water heaters and boilers, as well as electric vehicle chargers. Once consumption needs have been met, the energy is stored in decentralised batteries distributed throughout the community.

"The Caxias Living Lab has a laboratory feel, one of continuous improvement and experimentation with users. It symbolises Galp's spirit of openness to the outside world, its willingness to learn from the community and, above all, its commitment to co-creating the energy system of the future with its citizens," says Ana Casaca, Galp's Innovation Director.

It is estimated that at the end of the first year, residential participants will see a 30% reduction in grid consumption and a reduction of 20 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The Caxias Living Lab was supported by the Alliance for Energy Transition, a project of the Recovery and Resilience Plan.