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The regenerative braking of the metros of the Barcelona network has been transformed into a source of energy for recharging electric cars. The first station has just opened, with 50 kW power steles, in the Spanish city which should have seven in the coming years.
When Barcelona metro passengers use the underground network to visit the city or go to work, few know that at the same time, they are helping to recharge several electric cars. In the Catalan capital, the 125 kilometers of metro line tracks now house trains equipped with a regenerative braking system. Each time you approach a station, the brakes recover part of the energy supplied by the network, and redistribute it towards a charging station for electric cars.
The station, equipped with six steles with a power of 50 kW, offers motorists enough to recharge for 30 minutes, 1 hour or 2 hours, at a price of 0.30 euros per kWh. It is located not far from the Bellvitge metro station, located in the south of the city, towards Barcelona-El Prat airport. It is the first in a series of 7 stations which are to flourish in the city over the coming years, and was inaugurated at the end of last July. Three inverters were installed on subways and the city plans to add 13 more by the end of September.
The electricity recovered should not only be used to charge electric cars. It must also power the lighting, the escalators, and the metro network itself (a third of the energy). According to the city’s main transport operator, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), this new regenerative braking solution brought together under the name MetroCHARGE project will save 3.9 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, in electricity production.
Jordi Picas, head of metro projects at TMB, was delighted with the system which will make a big difference to other metro networks around the world. “There is so much energy that is not used, and not only is it lost, but it also generates heat which spreads inside the tunnels and increases the temperature”he declared last summer. According to him, the temperature recorded in the metro galleries had started to drop.
An investment amortized in 5 years
The investment is not trivial, that said. To install these energy recovery systems and to ensure that electricity is redistributed on the network, the Barcelona project had to raise millions: in all, 8.6 million euros. On the other hand, the time required for amortization would not be that long. According to MetroCHARGE, in just five years, the initial cost will be completely forgotten. The equipment would also have an excellent longevity, up to 45 years, enough to generate significant savings over the coming decades.
In the future, the MetroCHARGE system could become more widespread elsewhere. Other cities are working on it, such as Vienna, Philadelphia and Sao Paulo, but also London for 10 years. In India, the megalopolis of New Delhi has also expressed its interest, and within Spain itself, cities such as Bilbao and Malaga have also looked into the system. In Bilbao, the metro network has benefited so much from these inverters which recover friction energy from the brakes that it is now supplied with 7% of its power by the system.
Source :
Gray
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