Conceptualización y diseño de nuevos procesos

This section describes the self-identified and collective actor analysis. Appendix C contains the detailed stakeholder analyses matrices which are described here.

6.2.1 Where's the conflict? Self-identified actor capabilities and preferences All primary actors self-identify as generally supportive of the concept of a DHC system. They are also all supportive for the same two reasons: belief that new infrastructure makes a modern global city, and because of environmental concerns, particularly about carbon emissions.

Barcelona City Council operated a wide-ranging leadership role; the council or its sub-committees (headed by Deputy Mayors) were supportive of DHC in the 22@ district; they approved the Energy Plan, the 22@ masterplan and the SIP. Elected politicians form the city council leadership, but they also head up departments individually and two were publicly supportive of DHC. The forward to the Energy Plan by Mayor Joan Clos describes Districlima as

“A real example of our commitment to being a benchmark for sustainable and smart urban development” (Ajutament de Barcelona, 2002, p. 1).

Barcelona Regional was effectively the initiator of the idea for DHC in 22@. Their capabilities for infrastructure and DHC design are described above; the Head of Energy Infrastructure at Barcelona Regional described how the company grew its capability in district energy infrastructure by directly employing a previous infrastructure consultant. That interviewee also described how they investigated co-generation and district systems, believing that energy and environmental issues should be integrated into urban planning.

While I was developing all the urban planning of the 22@, one of the recurrent ideas that Barcelona Regional had was we are going to provide this area, which is a technology district, with modern infrastructures. The feasibility studies were developed during many years, such as co-generation systems that could supply some blocks, a group of buildings, and we thought about the possibility of supplying 4 blocks, 8 blocks, half of the district, all the district, we were analysing different possibilities. Then we thought, hey, instead of planning a new heating and cooling system for the Forum, the best solution would be to take advantage of the synergies of the existing infrastructures.

(InterviewA3, 2012)

90 They followed through on this in the SIP, proposing a system which connected to the Tersa waste incinerator near the Forum. This was then approved by Barcelona's Urban Planning Department and politicians in the city council. In Barcelona's Napoleonic planning system, approved urban plans are legally binding requirements on developers, and the city had a tradition of setting specific public realm and building design requirements.

In the 22@ district, the Planning Department and Barcelona Regional extended design requirements into underground infrastructure which had to be designed to a specific connection standard. The SIP reads, "The Technical Standards of the PEI in the annex, depending on specific situations, are legally binding in terms of criteria of actuation or recommendation." “To achieve the development of this project it is essential to co-ordinate a broad Special Infrastructure Plan which will act upon public areas as well as private community ones, determining surface land and underground land aspects" (Barcelona City Council, 2000). Their orientation for doing this was to ensure that new development reduced its impact on the environment, and to upgrade the district to meet the needs of a modern city. The plan also requires those private developments adding to currently extant floorspace to pay for waste, telecoms, and energy infrastructure.

The previous Director for Infrastructures at 22@ BCN described in an interview how they accepted the need for the DHC system due to rising energy costs, and that they saw it as infrastructure the city council should lead on through initial investment and coordination. “And if had not been public, we would not have had a network. This happens with all public utilities. If you analyze what happened with the electric supply, public lighting, with the sewers, the water supply, in any public utility the initiative always comes from the local public sector.” However, they originally did not have the technical capacity to know how to procure such an infrastructure, and had to seek assistance from the private sector through an 'ideas competition' (InterviewA3, 2012).

The ideas competition led to a concession approach to procurement, which was tendered to Cofeley who set up the Districlima company to build and operate the DHC system. Cofely had knowledge of how to operate a DHC system and run a business investing in DHC systems for a profit, although they expected to lose money in the first ten years of operating the Districlima system (InterviewS2, 2012). Under the concession, the company does not own and cannot sell the pipework and engineering systems. It is also limited in what price it can charge residential customers. Cofeley believes it is a good thing for cities to be using DHC systems and want to grow this business across Spain.

Later implementation of Districlima was supported by the Barcelona Energy Agency. Their Energy Plan explicitly promotes DHC systems such as Districlima, citing them as smart and energy in energy, economic, and environmental terms (Ajutament de Barcelona, 2002). They agreed that a concession approach was the appropriate method to fund Districlima. During the process of establishing the concession the agency was made responsible for administering price controls over DHC systems in the city. In an interview, the Technical Director described

91 the agency as partners with the Urban Planning Department, and how the agency would prefer energy goals to be integrated into urban planning and land distribution. “At the end the problem is not an energy problem to be solved it is an urbanism problem that has to be solved.”

(InterviewG4, 2012).

What are the actors' self-identified capabilities, orientations, and preferences?

Barcelona's set of actors for DHC is robust, with supportive organisations in the public and private sectors, a low-cost fuel source and supportive local politicians. The set did not emerge overnight, but it also grew quickly as new actors were brought in through partnership and concessions. The planning department and its consultants orientation that DHC infrastructure is important to regeneration and to environmental impact established the concept. The concept of district heating and cooling was not well known in Barcelona, but this was addressed this by hiring individuals into Barcelona Regional and into 22@ BCN who did have experience planning, designing, and procuring district infrastructure.

The city’s planning powers and capabilities deliberately grew to include planning of district heating and cooling with the approval of local politicians. Politicians publicly promoted addressing environmental resource issues and built a base of expectations for the city council and city activities. The mayor's introduction to the 2002 Energy Plan reads "A decisive policy is required on the part of public administrations to reverse current trends in energy consumption, a policy oriented towards promoting the use of clean, renewable sources of energy, to achieving efficiency in the production of final energy and to reducing consumption by introducing technological improvements and the practice of conscientious" (p. 1).

This pattern of development through urban visions and leadership from politicians follows Barcelona's tradition of urbanisme. The existence of familiar ways of working between all actors supports the lack of conflicting preferences over each actors role in procuring DHC and an acceptance of the SIP and Districlima by other city departments, other utilities in the city, and property owners.

6.2.2 Collective perspectives: Exploring success

When the actor constellation is analysed from a collective perspective, underlying orientations about the role of the government in urban utilities provision helps to explain the low levels of conflict about actor roles and the successful delivery of Districlima.

DHC was understood as integral to the 'innovation' theme in the 22@ district, alongside other vacuum waste management and fibre optic network infrastructure (Barcelona City Council, 2000; Barelona Energy Agency, 2012). And therefore it was accepted by other actors that 22@

BCN should act as the responsible organisation to guide and coordinate infrastructure development. As part of this 22@ BCN also acted as liaison with developers in the area through the planning approvals process (InterviewS2, 2012). The former Director of Infrastructure at 22@ BCN quoted the Deputy Mayor as saying to him:

92

"You should intervene in order to convince the developer about the advantages of the service and that is your job, you are the city council, explain it to them, and secondly, you should train the company to meet the needs of private customers."(InterviewA3, 2012)

The 22@ BCN did not tender the concession for Districlima; this was managed by Barcelona City Council directly (InterviewA3, 2012). The research did not uncover public concern about the investment, dissenting councillors or existing utilities in the city who were resistant to the introduction of DHC. In interviews the importance of support from the elected councillors as leaders of the city council became clearer. The council was perceived as not only committed to supporting renewable and efficient energy through policy documents like the Energy Plan but also obliged to by environmental commitments at a federal and European level (InterviewA3, 2012; InterviewG4, 2012). The interviews explained that while difficult to convince at first, the support of elected officials in charge of the planning process and other departments were necessary to provide the leadership and the will to make public departments work together for DHC. The planning and urban management experience of specific councillors were recognised by those interviewed, who cited the Olympic legacy as leading to knowledgeable politicians (InterviewA3, 2012).

Figure 7: Photos of Districlima pipe installation, Barcelona (Cary, [Photographs of Districlima pipe installation], 2012)

Other actors did not expect the council to mandate connection through the planning process, but they expected the council to finance the detailed design and initial investment, and direct third party energy companies through the concession (InterviewG4, 2012). Even Cofely understands the need for initial local government action to initiate DHC; "It's difficult to develop a project if the administration or somebody doesn't' put an amount of money in the beginning"

(InterviewS2, 2012).

During the negotiations for the concession, it became apparent that the city would also have to protect consumers by setting the price for residential purchase of heating and cooling. A fairly significant form of regulation and new role for the city, (it was delegated to the Barcelona Energy

93 Agency) it is not apparent that other approaches such as a third party consumer protection organisations were seriously considered (InterviewG4, 2012) (InterviewA3, 2012). This reflects on the sense of responsibility that the city and its elected officials felt for Districlima, as well as their willingness to intervene in utilities infrastructure in support of environmental and social goals.

Barcelona's Urban Planning Department was perceived by others as the initiator of the concept, with an ability to draft the energy plan, set efficiency standards for new buildings, and raise money through an infrastructure levy (InterviewA3, 2012). Others elaborated the need for them to be involved; to plan out the system in line with the urban growth proposals and introduce potential users of the system with the DHC concept during the development phase (InterviewG4, 2012). With Barcelona Energy Agency and Barcelona Regional, other actors recognised their capabilities and their role in developing the DHC system, but did not show an awareness of their strong orientation towards the future potential of DHC in Barcelona (InterviewS2, 2012).

Tersa, the provider of heat and 20% owner of Districlima, were understood to be responsible to the metropolitan government, rather than the city council. Despite this, there was no mention of difficulty or conflict in bringing them into the system through a heat transfer agreement with the city and then with Districlima. The former Director at 22@ commented, "Finally we reached an agreement. It was more a political agreement than a business agreement." Their partial ownership of Districlima was explained as a public statement of partnership and support for the concession (InterviewA3, 2012).

Cofely were perceived as a safe partner to create and operate Districlima; they were not technologically aggressive with the DHC system design, but they were financially sound and already invested in Barcelona through their ownership of the water company. This existing presence was seen as relevant to the success of Districlima, and one of the reasons why they won the contract to operate the concession (first at the Forum, and then for the extension) (InterviewA3, 2012).

Districlima itself was recognised as bringing environmental improvements, such as the use of waste energy, reduction of greenhouse gases and refrigerant losses, and reduction in noise and vibration. It was accepted that it required public investment to start, but that once built it would offer consumers lower prices than other ways of heating and cooling. The concession is for 30 years and interviewees voiced an expectation a concession approach will be continued after that (InterviewA3, 2012) (InterviewG4, 2012).

The collective strategy of market influences, regulation, and interventions also characterises the 'market' for DHC in 22@ that is strongly shaped and regulated by Barcelona City Council. The city regulates DHC in all four of Tiesdell and Allmendinger's classifications. Direct regulation is supplemented by different activities from other city departments, such as the Planning Department and the Energy Agency. The city council through the Planning Department regulates what it can (the design of shared services) and incentives what it cannot (the

94 connection and supply). There is a wide spectrum of actors engaged in ‘market regulating’

activity; regulation was ‘created’ by the city to protect citizens and assist the arms length partnership of Districlima.

Overall the collective strategy analysis finds relative alignment between expectations and actual actions of market influences across the actor constellation; this parallels the actor analysis above which also describes low conflict on expectations. Differences do exist. One is where Barcelona Regional established the concept of DHC in the SIP and MGMP; this is not normal practice in masterplanning in Spain and was a new form of market shaping influence that would have not been expected by other actors. Secondly, Barcelona City Council does not regulate development as much as Districlima would like it; Districlima would prefer for the council to mandate customer connection to the system (InterviewS3, 2012).

An extension of existing governance patterns into urban energy infrastructure The Districlima approach to DHC where the planning process established a design and energy vision for DHC as well as regulated development to build and pay for it, with the city council supporting investment, was established early on and accepted by others in the actor set. The actor set as whole saw energy infrastructure in regeneration as part of urban design, as part of the importance of getting the built environment right for Poblenou.

Therefore other actors accepted that the Planning Department should not only establish the concept but regulate the market through control of land use and urban design as well as design for infrastructure connections, and they accepted that the department's involvement was necessary to link urban growth and to influence customers during development control.

For Barcelona, taking on the responsibility to build DHC is an extension of traditional ways of thinking about city development; an extension of urbanisme. If Maragall’s message was ‘It is critical to understand that improving public spaces is relevant to solving social and economic problems’ then the legacy of his message in the context of DHC is interpreted as 'it is critical to understanding that improving infrastructure and public spaces is relevant to solving social, environmental, and economic problems of the 21^st century.'

How can the actor constellation be described?

There is a notable consensus about a role for public leadership in DHC extending beyond establishing an energy and infrastructure plan. It was expected that public investment was needed to initiate Districlima, with initial infrastructure paid for the city. Within this consensus there were several orientations within Barcelona government departments which influenced their strategies and actions about DHC, as well as their preferences for other actors. On one hand, Barcelona’s city commitments around environment and carbon goals are expressed by local politicians as the main driver for Districlima, and the impetus for the Special Infrastructure Plan and the concession to Cofely (Ajutament de Barcelona, 2002). On the other, socialist political orientations of the mayors contributed to their support for urban investment and public sector leadership on infrastructure (InterviewA3, 2012). The system is also price regulated to be cheaper than a reference case for residential customers – clearly a political benefit to elected

95 officials. Finally, the SIP also raised money from private developers for a range of infrastructure benefits to the area's regeneration; not just DHC but also telecommunications, water, and waste infrastructure. The regeneration approach that delivered Districlima also delivered other political and physical benefits.

Figure 8: Arial photograph of Tersa Waste Treatment Plant (Tersa)