Ferrovial builds first wind-powered charging station for electric cars

BARCELONA | Through its municipal and environmental services subsidiary Cespa, Ferrovial Services announced it has installed the first wind-powered recharging station for electric vehicles in Europe. The station, equipped with a 4 kW wind turbine, is the first in Europe to generate electricity from wind and use it for vehicle recharging.

Cespa manages municipal waste collection and cleaning contracts in western Barcelona as well as an end-to-end garden maintenance contract in the city’s metropolitan area. Javier Llansó, general manager of Cespa described the event as the opening of a new market.

“This vehicle recharging station is part of an ambitious project by Cespa which includes environmental initiatives such as a high-pressure car wash with a water recovery system, photovoltaic panels, and a compressed natural gas station for vehicles.”

General Electric and Urban Green Energy have both collaborated on this project with a view to promoting clean energy use.

All of these installations will be certified to the ISO 50.001 standard on energy efficiency. The project, which is a pioneer in Europe, has already successfully been implemented in New York and Beijing, and places Cespa and Barcelona in on the European forefront of this worldwide trend, the company said.

Being one of the main companies for waste management and gardening in Spain, Cespa not only covers the entire Spanish state but is also present in Portugal. It started presenting tenders in the United Kingdom in 2007. In 2010, its joint venture AmeyCespa acquired the English firm Donarbon and was awarded the Yorkshire’s waste management contract.