Solar Panels on Graves

Santa Coloma de Gramenet is a town of about 124,000 people. It is located in Spain, and is essentially a suburb of Barcelona. In an effort to fight climate change in November of 2008, the city installed 462 solar panels. What makes the story unique is where this install happened, in the cemetery. Yes, with only 7.05 km² to work with, the only flat land usable for the project was the cemetery.

The idea, of solar panels on top of coffins, was a hard sell at first. Antoni Fogue is a city counsel member, and I driving force behind the plan. He said, in a telephone interview, “Let’s say we heard things like, ‘they’re crazy. Who do they think they are? What a lack of respect!”. But it all worked out in the end, the town hall, and the cemetery office waged a public relations campaign. They explained the worthiness of the project, and the care that would be put into the installation.

The panels where installed in November of 2008. To be unobtrusive the panels where placed at a low angle. The cemetery is the final resting place for about 57,000. The solar panels cover less then 5% of the total space. The project cost $900,000, and provides enough power for 60 homes.

“There has not been any problem whatsoever because people who go to the cemetery see that nothing has changed,” Fogue said. “This installation is compatible with respect for the deceased and for the families of the deceased.”

The community leaders hope to triple the amount of solar power they collect. At this point it seems that everyone loves the idea of the clean power, and expansion should be widely accepted.