Visit to the photovoltaic pergola of the Forum in Barcelona
The students of the Master of Architecture and Sustainability visited the pergola of the Forum of Barcelona on Friday 25.01.2019, a photovoltaic installation managed by Tersa, a public company.
Designed by the architects José Antonio Martínez Lapeña and Elías Torres and built in 2004, the pergola is a concrete structure of 112 x 50 meters, which simulates the sail of a ship, with 3780 m2 of photovoltaic solar panels inclined to 35 ° oriented to the South, generates the equivalent power to the equivalent consumption of 160 homes.
The power of the installation is 449 kWp.
Since it was launched, its production has been 7,315,790 kWh and last year’s yield was 535,000 kWh. Although 550,000 kWh / year were projected, over time the panels degrade and produce in smaller quantities. Due to the good preventive maintenance, it made that in 15 years of installation, the performance has been reduced only by 2.73%
In the transformer room there are inverters, which convert the captured solar energy into useful energy, being a high voltage place, investors have a protection and ventilation system to prevent fires.
The module of the energy meter, has an optical reader that counts the energy produced by the photovoltaic panels and, in turn, has a modem connected that sends the data to the central office allowing the control of operation and data,
Its large dimensions also make it a giant parasol, allowing the use of space below the panels.
