What progress did Vilawatt make in 2018?

One of the key milestones reached this past period was developing a Strategic Participation Plan analysing the specific role 10 social stakeholders have played (schools, political groups, local retail, demo-renovated buildings, residents, etc.), each with specific goals and responsibilities aligned with the overall objectives of the project.

Based on this strategic participation plan, 4 open spaces have been created to learn and exchange ideas and good practices. These are the Espais Vilawatt for 4 different groups: the Espai Vilawatt for schools, Espai Vilawatt for professionals, the Espai Vilawatt for the people and the Espai Vilawatt for retail.

Since September, each space has been offering monthly learning programmes: the schools are participating in programmes to save energy that get the whole educational community involved; the professionals are working on trends and the future of the sustainable building sector; and the retail establishments are taking this opportunity to benefit from free power audits if they join this space. Regarding the Vilawatt Space for the people, residents of Viladecans are learning how to better use energy at home to be more comfortable while using less power consumption.

Plus, a new local currency has been designed, which will be launched the first quarter of 2019. It is linked to alternative, more flexible power savings, helping implement it faster and dynamise the local retail network.

Over the past year, work also began on some in-depth power renovations. The executive projects to refurbish 3 buildings in the Montserratina neighbourhood were completed in early July, then a public procurement call for construction projects was launched last August and, finally, the renovation works got the green light in November. The Vilawatt information office is scheduled to open in March.

Vilawatt has added new alliances during 2018, such as that of the Metropolitan Area of ​​Barcelona (AMB), which joined the project in the last third of 2018, or that of the citizens of Viladecans. We can not overlook the great success of the communication campaigns carried out during the last year, with events on the street, at schools ("Casals amb Energia" in July 2018), and the two itinerant street information campaigns that we have driven during the summer and the fall, and which have been very welcomed by the citizens of Viladecans.

Vilawatt has continued to cross borders and has had a voice in acts of international scope such as the EUSEW18 in Brussels (during the week of sustainable energy), the Urban Future of Vienna, Smart City Expo of Barcelona and the Forum of Cities in Madrid.