The event, held on April 29th at the Sabadell Hub Empresa, brought together the main players from the energy, technology and institutional ecosystem to analyse viable solutions to the challenges of the climate transition.
The Chair on Urban Energy Transition at UPV (CATENERG), driven by the Fundació València Innovation Capital and OAM València Sostenible, co-organised, together with the Energy Cluster of the Valencian Community, a high-level technical conference aimed at translating academic research into the operational reality of the city.
Under the title “Energy in the City of the Future: Real Solutions for Urban Challenges”, the event succeeded in bringing together professionals, public administration and the business community around a common goal: to put into practice the decarbonisation strategies needed to meet the milestones of Missió València 2030 and the European Green Capital designation.
The role of UPV: scientific rigour and knowledge transfer
The institutional opening was led by Carla Montagud Montalvá, director of CATENERG, who inaugurated the event alongside Ricardo Romaguera Faura (president of the Cluster) and Antonio García Celda (director of the Green Capital).
One of the most anticipated moments of the morning was the address by CATENERG professor and researcher José Luis Vivancos Bono. His presentation, entitled “La Harinera: Advanced energy optimisation for the transformation of València’s industrial heritage into a nearly zero-energy building”, provided a practical account of the advanced modelling and dynamic simulation work that the Chair is developing in this emblematic municipal building (Living Lab). The technical presentation on the strategies implemented to bring the building up to the nZEB standard made a notable impression on the audience, leading to an extensive and participatory round of questions.
A comprehensive programme for urban challenges
The event offered a 360-degree view of the urban energy ecosystem, structuring the debate through key presentations delivered by leading organisations:
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Neighbourhood-scale renovation: Blanca Larraz (IVE architect) presented the BARRIO project, focused on the automatic generation of aggregated plans to scale up decarbonisation.
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Smart Buildings (nZEB): José Luis Vivancos (CATENERG UPV) detailed the La Harinera Living Lab case study.
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Local Energy Communities: Fernando Giner (GDES) analysed solvency, financing and efficiency through the CEL Toda Valencia model.
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Sustainable Mobility: Caterina Tormo (ITE) presented software tools and Artificial Intelligence applied to electric mobility and intermodal transport.
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Electrical infrastructure: Javier Bon (i-DE, Grupo Iberdrola) addressed the planning and adaptation challenges of the electricity grid for the city of the future.
Dialogue and partnerships for València 2030
The event concluded with the Panel Discussion – The City of the Future, a strategic debate that once again featured the prominent participation of Carla Montagud, alongside Antonio García Celda (Green Capital), Javier Bon (i-DE), Blanca Larraz (IVE) and Alfons Ventura (GBCe), moderated by Enrique Bayonne (director of the Cluster). During the discussion, participants debated regulatory constraints, investment priorities and the need for shared governance (Human-in-the-loop) to ensure that the energy transition is not only technological, but also economically viable and socially just.
The event concluded with an institutional networking session, reaffirming the role of CATENERG as an indispensable bridge between the research excellence of UPV, the strategic needs of the Ajuntament de València and the execution capacity of the private sector.
