In the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya
Red Eléctrica’s 'A highway behind the wall socket' exhibition opens in Tarrasa
  • This travelling exhibition has been designed and created with the aim of explaining the operation of the Spanish electricity system and raising public awareness on efficient and responsible consumption
  • The exhibition, chosen by the European Council as an exemplary European initiative, received   275,000 visitors in previous editions and now features brand new modules

 

The Regional Minister for Culture of the Generalitat, Ferran Mascarell and the Corporate Director of Corporate Responsibility and Communication of Red Eléctrica de España, Antonio Prada, have today inaugurated the exhibition ‘A highway behind the wall socket. Electricity, from the power station to your home’. The event, held at the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya, was also attended by Jaume Perarnau, director of the museum and Luis Pinós, Red Eléctrica’s Regional Delegate in Catalonia.

This travelling exhibition has been designed and created with the aim of explaining the operation of the Spanish electricity system and raising public awareness on efficient and responsible consumption

In a very didactic way and through an interactive tour, the exhibition, which will remain open until November, shows the phenomenon and properties of electricity as well as the electricity supply process and propose some ideas and recommendations for a rational and efficient use of energy. Thus, the visitor becomes the protagonist of the electricity process with the ability to be a responsible player and choose what, how and when to consume, thus contributing to greater efficiency and sustainability of the electricity system.

The exhibition has various areas which establish a journey that goes from the physical principles of electricity to the role of the citizen as protagonist in the electricity supply process.

The first area has a laboratory of experiments where visitors can see and feel how electricity travels and becomes light, cold, heat and movement. The second focuses on the electricity supply process, explaining the challenge posed by the balance between generation and consumption and dedicates part of its content to explaining the electricity interconnections between systems and which are essential to improve the utilisation of renewable energy, improve the quality of supply and favour the creation of a single European electricity market. Finally, in the third area, the visitor, as a citizen and consumer, becomes the protagonist of the story.

The exhibition offers interactive spaces where all who visit can take on the role of operators in the Electricity Control Centre; become an engineer and build a power line from the power station where electricity is produced to the consumption points, taking into account that its design must be as respectful as possible with the natural and social environment, and, through the game of interconnections, understand the advantages of interconnected electricity systems as opposed to isolated systems.

It also offers a classroom for teaching various workshops; a projection room for audio-visuals and different interactive materials, and other materials designed for different school ages and audiences, such as a virtual visit to CECOEL (Electricity Control Centre), videos and animated graphics.

‘A highway behind the wall socket’ has already visited five other Spanish museums. Since its launch in 2010, it has been exhibited in the Parque de las Ciencis in Granada, the Casa de las Ciencias in Logroño, the Museo dela Ciencia in Valladolid, the Museo Elder de la Ciencia y Tecnología in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Casa de la Ciencia in Seville and the Museo Abierto in Mérida. Throughout these last five years, it has received around 275,000 visitors.

The Tarrasa exhibition is the most complete of those made so far, as newly created elements have been included that almost double those of the previous exhibitions.

The Directorate General for Energy of the European Commission highlighted this exhibition as one of the five best practices of transmission system operators (TSO), transferable to all Member States of the European Union, to improve the understanding of the need to develop electricity transmission facilities, and to promote their social acceptance.

 

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