Energy efficiency work on panoramic lift
Cuneo's panoramic lift, which connects the city centre with the interchange car park next to the Swimming Stadium and the Gesso and Stura River Park nature trails, will soon become a model of energy efficiency, helping to make our municipality's mobility even more sustainable.
On Monday 3 May 2021, work began on transforming the lift into a "cleaner" means of public transport, an operation financed and promoted by the Interreg Central Europe Store4HUC project of which Cuneo is a beneficiary, together with Environment Park of Turin and eight other transnational partners. The lift energy transition project is one of the pilot actions through which Store4HUC intends to test and demonstrate the feasibility of installing energy storage systems connected to renewable energy sources, even in historic city centres.
The project consists in upgrading the power supply system of the panoramic lift, which currently depends entirely on the national grid. The pilot action provides for the installation, along the way of the cabin, of a photovoltaic system in connection with a battery that will allow both the accumulation of energy overproduced by photovoltaic panels, and the energy generated during the braking phases of the system. The latter is currently dissipated in the form of heat, but it can instead represent a source of power for the system that, combined with the renewable energy source, will allow the lift to free itself from the national grid for 60% of its needs.
The pilot action also includes the construction of a technical compartment located close to the mountain station, which will house the electrical equipment to be installed soon, as well as the excavation work necessary for laying the connection cables.
For these reasons, the works will have a partial impact on the road system of Corso Marconi and on the operation of the lift itself, trying to minimize the interference with the normal traffic flow and with the accesses to and from the interchange car park. In this first phase of the works, the lift will be in regular operation and notice will be given of any interruption in service when conditions arise. Completion of the work is expected between June and July 2021.
