Rivas Vaciamadrid, an example of a smart and sustainable city

We are currently living in a breakneck urbanization process that causes numerous problems, such as high emissions of polluting gases and high energy consumption. These are challenges to be mitigated, framed within the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, which position the development of smart and sustainable cities as a key point for addressing a green future. In fact, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and forecasts indicate that this figure will reach 70% by 2025. This is why so-called Smart Cities represent a solution to tackle these problems arising from rapid urbanization, driving transformation and innovation, as well as optimizing infrastructure, mobility, and public services. In this regard, the city council of Rivas Vaciamadrid is becoming a national reference for Smart Cities, thanks to the application of cutting-edge technologies to improve citizens’ quality of life and ensure sustainable development. Since 2004, a pioneering and innovative model has been applied as the basis for managing the city of Rivas Vaciamadrid. Under this smart city model, Smart Buildings are a fundamental pillar, as they use IoT technology to guarantee maximum operational efficiency and savings in consumption. To implement this entire project, Edison Next, as the Global Energy Partner, has deployed an open information system in the city, TrulyOpen®, based on Niagara4, a controller to achieve the stipulated energy performance goals. All of this ensures cross-cutting and centralized management of public infrastructure, including more than 40 municipal buildings, public lighting, electric vehicle charging stations, parks, and gardens. Through the monitoring of more than 30,000 control points, the HVAC and lighting installations are controlled, as well as the environmental conditions and electrical consumption of municipal buildings: from the city hall or local police station to schools or the municipal auditorium, among other infrastructures. To ensure the information system managing the infrastructures operates optimally, automated maintenance is carried out. In this way, using the BMSlytics tool, which represents a digital transformation of BMS maintenance, automatic monitoring of performance indicators is performed, guaranteeing 100% system coverage. Thanks to the implementation of this project, the city of Rivas Vaciamadrid has achieved total savings in electricity, water, and gas in its infrastructures equivalent to more than 144 tons of CO2 and 2,320 trees. In short, with the incorporation of these innovative technologies, proper maintenance, and correct data management, the city of Rivas Vaciamadrid has become a full-fledged Smart City hand in hand with Edison Next, thus achieving maximum efficiency and sustainability in facility management, as well as IoT management of the vast majority of public services.