In Santa Coloma de Gramenet, a city just outside Barcelona, a glittering expanse of 462 solar panels have turned the local cemetery into a source of light. Santa Coloma has converted its municipal graveyard into a power plant with a capacity of 100 kilowatts, enough to meet the energy needs of 60 families.

Esteve Serret is the director of Conste, the company that manages Santa Coloma’s cemetery. While working among the graves one day, Serret was struck by the idea that the location had tremendous potential as a source for renewable energy. In Serret’s words: “To produce solar energy you need a wide open space, and in Santa Coloma, the biggest open space is the cemetery.”

With a commitment of $935,000 in funding from Conste and the power company Endesa to cover installation costs, Serret convinced the Santa Coloma city government to allow construction of the solar panels in the cemetery. With great care to preserve the character and serenity of the graveyard, the project met little opposition.

Energy Initiative Meets Glowing Response
Response to the experiment at Santa Coloma has, in fact, been so positive that the cemetery may come to be seen as a trendsetter. Barcelona and other cities throughout Spain have already begun to inquire about the city’s venture into the energy business, and according to Santa Coloma City Council member Begoña Bellete, the city is setting a prime example of acting locally to affect global change. “In a city like this one, which is working-class, has a high immigrant population, and plenty of problems, it’s nice to be a reference for something positive,” says Bellete.

Indeed. If each of Spain’s 8,000 cities employed the technology in their own cemeteries, the energy generated could potentially reach 800,000 kilowatts.