With the support of Iberdrola, Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum is embracing self-consumption and getting an installation of nearly 300 solar panels! We’re talking about energy self-sufficiency of 80 MWh per year, which will reduce the museum’s annual electricity bill by up to 5%. Not bad, especially when you consider that it will cover all the lighting needs of the exhibition halls. Read on!
The Bilbao Guggenheim’s solar panels, a feat hidden under the roof
At the Guggenheim Bilbao, the challenge was taken to another level: installing solar panels without anyone noticing. And the challenge was brilliantly met! The panels are perched on the building’s widest roofs, as invisible from the street as they are integrated into the museum’s already singular architecture. A true feat that respects Frank Gehry’s initial pencil sketch, unanimously approved by the architect himself and by Bilbao’s city council.
Iberdrola, with its installer Bikote Solar and in symbiosis with the museum’s executive architect, César Caicoya, has put in place an infrastructure that takes a back seat to art, while scoring a point for the planet: preventing the emission of 16 tonnes of CO₂ annually, the equivalent of planting almost 800 trees. This project completes the great work begun in January with 90 panels installed on the museum’s external warehouse, which already provide 30% of the venue’s electrical needs, and even the entire requirement on sunny days. Great art…
Iberdrola, Spain’s champion of self-consumption
When it comes to photovoltaic self-consumption in Spain, it’s hard to overlook Iberdrola, and with good reason! The undisputed leader, the much-loved company has been pushing the energy transition agenda since 2015, when it broke new ground by including self-consumption solutions in its catalog of services. A head start that still resonates throughout the sector… And the figures speak for themselves: solar self-consumption systems at Iberdrola deliver annual savings of around 30% for residential communities, 50% for businesses and up to 70% for single-family homes. These savings materialize in three ways: energy produced and consumed directly on site, compensation for excess energy not consumed and fed back into the grid, and tax reductions.
A well-negotiated green shift
By now, you’ll have understood that at the Guggenheim Bilbao, we’re not just talking art; we’re acting for the planet. Committed to an environmental sustainability plan for 2024-2025, the museum is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2030, an ambitious project financed by European NextGenerationEU funds and managed by the Basque Energy Agency.
A global pioneer, the Guggenheim Bilbao was the first museum to calculate and publish its carbon footprint, including indirect emissions. Since 2022, every exhibition has been scrutinized, including logistics and museography. In 2023, the museum’s footprint was reduced to 2,561.84 tonnes of CO2, down 12% on the average of previous years, thanks to a series of energetic measures.
By June 2024, the museum’s electricity will be 100% sustainable, reducing its carbon footprint by a third. And that’s not all: gas consumption has fallen by 35% and electricity by 6% since the adoption in 2022 of temperature and humidity control parameters that are more respectful of the outdoor environment. These adjustments position the museum as a world leader in the preventive conservation of works of art, revolutionizing international standards and significantly impacting the CO2 emissions of major museum institutions. This is how the Guggenheim Bilbao redefines the art of sustainability!
The Guggenheim Bilbao innovates for ecology in its exhibitions
More than a museum, the Guggenheim Bilbao is also a laboratory of green ideas, always on the lookout for more eco-friendly materials for its exhibition stagings. In this respect, the museum took a giant step forward this year with the intimate exhibition “Learning through Art”. For the first time, biodegradable paint and 100% recyclable wood-fibre panels were used, and it was a huge success!
But this is just the beginning… Over the next two years, the museum will continue to test different materials, with the aim of being able to reuse and/or recycle all elements of the exhibition sets. And to take eco-responsibility even further, the Guggenheim will be stepping up the use of rented packaging rather than building new crates, and is banking on virtual supervision for the transfer and installation of works traveling between institutions, a technology introduced in 2020 that drastically reduces staff travel.
The Action Plan for 2024-2025 cements the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’s firm commitment to environmental preservation. The museum makes it a point of honor to implement technologies and methods inspired by the ecological transition, thus reducing energy and raw material consumption, developing recycling and circularity projects, and promoting activities that raise the ecological awareness of its visitors and community. This is how the Guggenheim Bilbao is taking the lead in making art a key player in the ecological movement.