is one of the important conclusions of the National Meeting of Installers held in Madrid on October 1 with the assistance of numerous installer entrepreneurs from all over Spain interested in the use of renewable energies and energy efficiency, the main topics of the day.In a dense day with high-level conferences with representatives of the IDAE, DALKIA, TÜV RHEINLAND, or FUNDACIÓN ENTORNO among others, a day was developed where the participants did not hesitate to ask multiple questions to the speakers to clarify interesting issues in topics as complex and variable as the role of Energy Service Companies (ESE), subsidies for the use of renewable energies, or the industrial safety model and inspections in facilities.
CONFERENCES
In his speech, Pablo Gosálvez, responsible for Dissemination of the lines of promotion of Renewable Thermal Energies in Buildings of the IDAE, graphically explained the important savings that can be achieved in biomass, solar or geothermal installations compared to others such as diesel, in terms of investment, profitability and amortization. It extended to clarify the aid of the IDAE for biomass, solar and geothermal installations, and announced the next exit of new aids for large thermal installations (GIT) of renewable energies. Currently in the BIOMCASA program there are already 34 authorized companies and 40 approved projects.
Fernando Flórez and Jose Luis Barrientos of DALKIA, which signed its first energy services contract in 1.937, denounced the barriers currently existing in Spain for the optimal development of the ESE, regulatory complexity, lack of information and training on energy efficiency and business model; and financial difficulties due to the guarantees required by banks and their preference for smaller projects.
The intervention of Pedro Torres, Secretary General of the Multisectoral Platform against Late Payment (PMcM), aroused great interest after the approval of the new Law 15/2010. Pedro clarified that the fight against late payment has not ended with the publication of the new payment terms. It is necessary to approve a sanctioning regulation whose draft is underway, the creation of the Observatory against Late Payment to denounce cases of bad practices, the modification of article 80 of the VAT Law and above all, to change the culture of payment in many companies, which have made the delay in payment a habit to self-finance.
Vicenç Calomarde, Regional Director of TÜV RHEINLAND, questioned whether this was the most appropriate time to liberalize the market with the application of the Omnibus Law, and whether the user chooses the service for quality or just to comply with the inspection procedure, as well as the lack of mentalization existing in Spanish society to invest in the necessary reforms after an inspection.
The day ended in the morning with the intervention of Pedro A. Prieto, Head of the Domestic and Buildings Department of the IDAE and Blanca Bonilla, Project Director of the ENTORNO FOUNDATION. Pedro insisted on the good results of the realization of energy savings by ESE, which through an energy management contract, recover their investment with savings, and the exemplary role of the Administration with the high potential for savings in their public buildings.
Finally Blanca in a clear and brilliant exhibition, encouraged to promote the market of the building of high energy rating, making proposals such as prioritizing the building fiscally based on its energy rating, public policies aimed at promoting that the most effective options are the easiest to carry out or provide the agents involved with useful information that allows them to be aware of the advantage of energy efficiency. In this context and as a first, he presented the ATECOS platform (Technical Assistant for Sustainable Construction) that will soon be active, and will constitute the first and largest centralized knowledge base around sustainable building.
TECHNICAL VISITS
In the afternoon, the attendees of this Meeting visited the geothermal facilities in progress of the Hospital de Cantoblanco, 32 soundings of 96 m. deep.
On Saturday 2, the members of the Board of Directors of CNI had the opportunity to visit the facilities of the Crystal Tower and the SACYR Tower guided by the engineering companies that authored the projects, PROMEC in the Crystal Tower and AGUILERA INGENIEROS in the SACYR Tower, and with the authorization of their owners, MUTUA MADRILEÑA and SACYR.
The Crystal Tower with its 249 m. and 53 floors, is the largest office building and the second tallest tower in Spain. Its five technical floors house truly impressive facilities. Visitors to CNI were able to see the cold room (S2), the main lobby (n+0), the n+1 machine room, the n+2 floor and the roof with its spectacular installation of solar panels on the sloping roof used to heat the water in the toilets.
