“The thing is black; some clubs have had to lower the temperature of the water if they didn't want to close activities... or go bankrupt”.
Measures such as the one pointed out by a Catalan entity are common among sports clubs, especially swimming clubs, which are suffering more than anyone else from the double crisis. First, that of the covid – which reduced their income with the loss of 30% of members – and now the energy crisis, which has made bills more expensive by between 40% and 50%. The seriousness is evident: for the clubs that live in an aquatic environment – they need to heat the water and cool or heat the facilities – the wild increase in the price of electricity and gas makes their activity unsustainable.
Faced with this dramatic situation, there are only two ways out: to wait for the manna of some public aid that does not arrive – “and if it does not arrive, they will have to reduce activity significantly,” says Sergi Pujalte, executive secretary of the Business Association of Clubs of Natació de Catalunya (AECNC), with 36 clubs–, or sharpen ingenuity and cut energy costs with alternatives.
"Historically, the water clubs have done their homework on energy savings and sustainability to reduce spending," says Pujalte. Although the recipes require a large investment and patience to amortize it in a few years.
One of the pioneers in applying energy is the CN Sabadell, the largest water club in Spain (22,000 members and 1,200 federated athletes). Due to its size, it is the one that has most noticed the increase in energy bills: it has paid 1.6 million euros in electricity, heat and water in the 2021-22 financial year, an amount equivalent to the budget of its entire water polo. “The increase in the price of electricity and gas by 70%-80% has increased our spending by around 600,000 euros”, details Claudi Martí, president of the Vallesan entity. For this reason, the club has designed an "energy transition" project to become "an entity with almost zero consumption of fossil fuels".
Its road book consists of two lines of action: measures to reduce or transform gas consumption, and the reduction or self-production of electricity. Since 2009, he has implemented actions –most of them in collaboration with Naturgy– that have cost him 2.1 million euros in investment and have saved him 2.5 million euros in these 12 years. Measures have been taken, such as the control of CO2 from the dehumidifiers (air pumps to eliminate humidity), the substitution of fluorescent lights for LEDs, the installation of a solar power plant with 2,033 photovoltaic modules in its two premises -with savings of 138 tons of CO2 emissions and 32% of electricity demand–, or the innovative cardiothermy system, which converts sweat into energy. Turbines absorb body heat from exercise, a machine filters moisture from sweat, dries it and converts it into electricity. With the recovered energy, 15% of gas consumption is saved.
Not far behind is the CN Atlètic Barceloneta (12,000 members), another of the pioneers in energy sustainability. They haven't used gas for three years; they replaced it with a biomass plant that supplies them with hot water. “We installed three 500 kW biomass boilers –renewable energy in which the fuel is pellets (forest cleaning residues) that feed the boilers–, which produce enough heat to generate hot water for the showers and the five swimming pools”, he explains. Héctor Cruz, project manager of the club. "The savings is 20-25% compared to the gas bill."
Another saving measure was the installation of photovoltaic panels on the deck of the large pool in December to alleviate the electricity bill, which has tripled, "from 25,000 euros per month to 83,000 last month in July," Cruz details. , recalling that only the "adjustment of the Spanish Government" (for limiting the price of gas) has cost them 30,000 euros. "This unbalances the economic viability that we had been very fine-tuned." Thus, the energy bill has grown from 25% to 37% of the club's budget, that is, an increase of 620,000 euros in these seven months until July; at the end of the year they will exceed one million euros.
Its neighbors at CN Barcelona (6,000 members), with a 30%-35% higher bill and an expenditure of one million euros in 2021 on energy supply, have prioritized other actions: the "homogenization of the facades" of the various club buildings “so that there is a similar isothermal level with minimal heat loss” –explains Xosé Carlos Fernández, general director of the club– and the substitution of fluorescent lights for LEDs in the 25,000 m2 of its facilities and the generation of electricity with 1,456 solar panels (at the end of 2022) that will save energy and produce electricity and heat.
The expected savings, depending on the partner they choose, will be 100% in hot water and between 55% and 100% in electricity. "There will be no need for spills or raising fees for partners, it does not go with our policy."
This is the option of the CN Sant Andreu (8,000 members and 4,000 subscribers), which in June sent an SOS to its members: the energy emergency is "putting the economic sustainability of the club at risk". The gas rate has been increased "by 280%, and the electricity rate will be increased by 200% starting in September." The calculation of the expense shows a chilling figure: €700,000 annual increase. The club's reaction was to ask the member for help with "a donation campaign", explains the president, Àngel Bernet.
The grace of the system is that the member recovers 80% of the donation deducting it in the income statement, and the other 20% is returned with the bonus of a monthly payment of the fee. “The response has been a success, more than 300 contributions in a month; Until December there is time. And the advantage is that it can be done every year”, says Bernet. The club calculates that with this campaign it will earn 100,000 euros net. Added to this initiative is the change of boilers (from gas to heat pump) and the use of heat from air conditioners, which will allow them to "halve" the energy cost overrun.
On the contrary, the CN Catalunya (5,000 members) assures that it cannot "do anything", according to Jordi Payà, manager of the Gràcia club, whose electricity and gas consumption has skyrocketed to 40% of the budget: they have spent to pay 425,000 euros for water, electricity and gas to 600,000. "The measures we take mean insignificant savings," says Payà, who is negotiating reduced rates with the Barcelona City Council and with the supply companies. "The room for maneuver is minimal," he lists: reduce spending on sports and other investments, make spills or advance payments or find "extraordinary income" or public subsidies.
