To lead the way in French smart regions, Angers Loire Métropole has selected the consortium managed by ENGIE Solutions, a brand owned by the Group leading the zero-carbon transition, alongside SUEZ, La Poste and the VYV Group.
Starting in January 2020, teams from ENGIE Solutions, SUEZ, La Poste and the VYV Group will develop innovative solutions, working closely alongside the local community, its partners, local companies and residents. The aim is to use digital technologies to speed up the region's energy transition, enhance its appeal, optimise the way in which public services are structured and manage resources more efficiently, thus improving and facilitating the day-to-day lives of residents.
Thanks to the complementarity of ENGIE consortium's areas of expertise,– and by installing sensors and undertaking renovation work – the amount of energy used for public lighting should be reduced by 66% by 2025. Furthermore, energy consumption in the town's public buildings should be reduced by 20%, traffic should run more smoothly and more easily, and the quantities of water used for watering municipal plants and trees should be reduced by 30%.
Angers Loire Métropole, leading the digital and electronic transition of the future
With 7000 jobs and 900 companies generating turnover of some €1.3 billion in electronic and digital technologies, Angers Loire Métropole (ALM) was awarded the French Tech label in 2015. The urban community’s economic and cultural dynamism, together with the high quality of life enjoyed by its residents, make it an appealing region. To enhance the everyday lives of residents, to make it easier, smarter and more harmonious, ALM accelerates its transformation into a smart region. By entrusting the ENGIE consortium with this task, the urban community is reasserting its desire to commit to the zero-carbon transition, ensuring a more virtuous form of development.
The consortium spearheaded by ENGIE Solutions will densely cover the whole region with its unique understanding of the local fabric, ensuring that its teams are always ready to be mobilised.
A smart region serving residents: interactivity and cross-functional solutions
The consortium will create infrastructure components able to communicate with one another, to improve public services and their accessibility, as well as reducing the urban community's environmental footprint and generating energy savings in all areas of day-to-day life.
At the heart of the project, ENGIE Solutions will deploy LIVIN’, the hypervisor platform that provides public services with all the information they need to optimise public lighting, video-protection, water and drainage services, together with the management of green spaces, healthcare, buildings, mobility and waste disposal. Furthermore, the platform will also provide 3D representations (digital twins of the region) so that decision-makers can take decisions based on relevant scenarios.
In concrete terms, once the current energy-guzzling lighting systems have been replaced by LEDs, the platform can be used to enhance the performance of lighting units by having them triggered when a pedestrian or car passes. Sensors integrated into urban furniture (lighting systems, public buildings, signage, etc.) will keep residents and local authority's services informed via an application, providing information about the availability of parking spaces, any accidents or damage to the water networks, etc. The benefits will include traffic that runs more smoothly, time and energy savings and increased security.
To continue with this approach underpinned by a commitment to environmental excellence initiated by the urban community, SUEZ will supplement the existing tools (sensors, smart water meters, etc.) so as to optimise the performance of water, drainage, waste management and cleaning services, as well as the way in which green spaces are managed. As a result, water quality can be managed in real time, fly-tipping will be reduced and waste collection operations can be optimised.
Operating via its subsidiary Docaposte, LA POSTE will provide its expertise as a trusted digital third party. It will be tasked with storing and archiving the data generated by the smart city's operation. Hosted in France on servers owned by Docaposte and operated by its teams, this anonymized data will remain the local authority's property.
With its experience in local services, LA POSTE will give a human face to the smart city's new features and functions to ensure that as many people as possible make use of them. La Poste will also provide its expertise in urban logistics, helping to reduce congestion in the town centre and improve quality-of-life for residents by ensuring that transport services run more smoothly.
As Angers’ leading private employer, the VYV Group will be in charge of deploying the health/well-being component. It will run these services by managing healthcare data on “E-PIC”, a trusted digital platform, alongside the hypervisor platform implemented by ENGIE. The local authority will also have access to a set of services provided by the other members of the consortium, to support in particular vulnerable people and ensuring that they are able to remain at home. This platform will list all the services designed to optimise people's access to healthcare.
Subcontractors will also be involved in the delivery of these services: LACROIX Group for smart connected equipment and Onepoint for its expertise in smart city strategies, green growth and in the digital transformation for public stakeholders.
Ongoing dialogue with residents
Turning Angers Loire Métropole into a smart region also involves improving the way in which projects are managed by adopting a co-development approach with stakeholders. The ENGIE consortium is a firm believer in this and – in line with the approach long adopted by Angers Loire Métropole – suggests investing in the creation of a Forum in Angers. This would be a fully-fledged forum for creating the services of the future for the smart region, showcasing regional initiatives and sharing examples of best practice with other local authorities. Residents will be able to understand what the smart region is within the framework of this Forum. The ENGIE consortium and Angers Loire Métropole will be able to use it to provide other French local authorities and international delegations with demonstrations.
With this proposed smart region, the ENGIE consortium is helping Angers Loire Métropole to become a forerunner in regional intelligence for everybody's benefit.
