The tram service in the metropolitan area has avoided the emission of 4,362 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere during the 2018-2021 period, according to the transport operator of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Metrotenerife, which represents the amount of CO2 they emit in a year about 900 private transport vehicles. These data are taken from the Report on the Allocation and Impact of the Green Bond prepared by Metrotenerife and the consulting firm Analistas Financieros Internacionales.
The Island Councilor for Mobility and President of Metrotenerife, Enrique Arriaga, remarks that “the tram contributes to the environmental improvement of Santa Cruz and La Laguna by eliminating some 2,000,000 private vehicle trips from the streets each year.” On the other hand, it emphasizes that “the rail transport sector will play a key role in the European sustainable mobility policy and in achieving the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030. Without a doubt , guided transport will mark mobility in Europe, so we must commit to improving the tram network, with the implementation of new lines and the expansion of others, in addition to connecting the South and the metropolitan area by train”.
The Island Director of Mobility, José Alberto León, underlines that the roof of the Metrotenerife Workshops and Garage facilities has a photovoltaic plant, whose renewable energy production capacity is 880 kilowatts.
From the year of its installation, until the year 2021, the annual average production has been 1,356,000 kilowatts per year, the approximate equivalent of the consumption of more than 400 homes with a monthly average of 270 kilowatts / hour, according to data from Spanish Electric Network.
Precisely, last year more than 18% of the energy needs of the tramway network were covered by the energy generated at this plant.
In the same area, another energy saving measure that the tram has, derived from the orography of the metropolitan area and the electrical configuration of its traction system, can be highlighted. Due to the continuous slope on which the line runs, the energy created by vehicle braking is injected into the catenary of the system so that it can be used by other units in service, resulting in savings of up to 34% in the total traction consumption of the fleet.
With all this, Metrotenerife has various forms of energy generation to, on the one hand, provide the tram system with considerable energy savings, and, on the other, favor the reduction of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
