Innovative urban services involving smart grid

In 2018, ENGIE plans to work in partnership with Nantes Métropole to install a renewable energy production unit and an energy storage system on the parking garage of the Machines district.

The purpose of this call for projects is to identify new services that could use this locally-produced green energy for citizens or companies, contributing to

• increasing the area’s economic, tourist, heritage and cultural attractiveness,
• offering services to local stakeholders: residents, visitors, and businesses,
• optimizing the various systems that operate in the district and the city

 
The solutions and services we are seeking should involve one or more of the following:
 

• Services for citizens, visitors, residents and businesses
• New services for users that enhance the attractiveness of the neighborhood.
• New cultural or leisure opportunities
• Transport and mobility, multimodal hubs, multi-services, developing pedestrian and bicycle traffic, last mile logistics, parking management

Working with Nantes Métropole on the MySMARTLife project (the winner of a Horizon 2020 European call for projects), ENGIE plans to install a renewable energy production unit and an energy storage system on the parking garage of the Machines district. 

This system will generate local green energy whose production and use will be optimized through a storage system in alignment with the principles of the smart city. 

The proposed solutions will need to use this locally-produced green energy in addition to having a balanced economic model and the ability to be reproduced in other areas.
 

Deadline for responses: November 30th, 2017 at midnight CET

Rewards and benefits:

The winner (s) could get one or more of the following:

• Commercial and technical support from ENGIE experts, and the opportunity to have their innovative project integrated into a commercial offering
• The opportunity to submit an application to the Nantes City Lab, a system set up by Nantes Metropole to facilitate innovative experiments in the city; if the committee approves the project, the solution will get an official label and technical support for implementing it. This process is sponsored by the Caisse des Dépôts.
• A €7,500 interest-free loan from the Banque Populaire Atlantique for winners who are active in the Pays de la Loire region or who intend to locate in the department
• Support from the Creative Factory by SAMOA: the winners of the call for projects will get 6 months of free incubation including:

·         A collaborative workspace within the Creative Factory
·         Management assistance from a specialist in engineering innovative projects. This assistance will be tailored to fit the level of maturity of the selected project
·         Networking with various smart city stakeholders

Detailed description:

In 2016, Nantes Métropole won a call for smart city projects launched by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 program.
Nantes Métropole is working in partnership with two other European cities, Hamburg and Helsinki. Named MySMARTLife, the project will be implemented between 2017 and 2021 with several demonstrators installed in 2017 and 2018. The final three years will involve monitoring and gathering feedback on the solutions in order to replicate them in the cities of Bydgoszcz (Poland), Palencia (Spain), Rijeka (Croatia) and Varna (Bulgaria), which are also partners of the MySMARTLife project.
ENGIE is the main industrial partner for the Nantes part of the project. The Group will install several demonstrators focused on the theme of the energy transition.

The demonstrator on the Machines parking garage will involve the following:

• A renewable energy production unit, using solar and micro-wind turbines,
• An on-site energy storage system that will help match energy production to consumption needs,
• Intelligently managing energy production management using an EMS (energy management system).

 
The demonstrator will generate locally-produced green energy. Production and consumption will be optimized thanks to the on-site storage system.
The parking garage forms an integral part of the surrounding district, which includes:

• Economic activities (many companies are located in the vicinity)
• Cultural activities (proximity to the Machines, a hangar space hosting many events, the Stereolux cultural center, etc.)
• Apartment buildings and other housing,
• the Loire River, the Hangar à Bananes, the Parc des Chantiers (a park repurposing infrastructure from the former shipyard)
• Infrastructure for private vehicle traffic (car parking) and bicycles
• Infrastructure for pedestrian traffic from both neighborhood users (residents and workers) and the large number of visitors to the Machines site

  
The purpose of this call for projects is to identify new services that we can offer to citizens or companies in order to help optimize the flows of people and goods in the district and/or to increase its overall attractiveness.
 
The solutions and services we are seeking will have to be appropriate for this site, which is a hub for economic activity and the movement of people in addition to being a zone of experimentation for the smart city being sponsored by the Caisse des dépôts.
 
The new services should use locally-produced energy, but this energy is not free. Therefore, the solutions and services must include a balanced economic model.
 
 
Type of solutions we are seeking:
 
Projects must involve technically mature solutions, though they may still be in need of testing as part of a pilot project or full-scale rollout. The technical/technological solutions and business models can be at different stages of maturity (e.g. mature solutions that need help getting to the industrial development phase, or new solutions that require an initial full-scale test in situ).
 

To fit with the characteristics of the site, the proposed solutions and services should involve one or more of the following:

• Services for citizens, visitors and residents
• New cultural or leisure opportunities
• Business services in the neighborhood,
• Transportation and mobility, multimodal hubs, multi-services, development of pedestrian and bicycle traffic, last mile logistics,
• Management of parking and vehicle flows
• New services for users to enhance the attractiveness of the neighborhood.

 
This will allow to host very varied solutions exploiting the particularities of this urban site, located in the heart of the city.
 

Eligibility and selection criteria

 Winners will be selected based on the following criteria

• Balance of the planned economic model
• Use of locally-produced energy
• Relevance and appropriateness for the subject
• Innovative features of the project,
• Economic and financial feasibility,
• Strength and replicability of the economic model
• Existence of a market, time to market
• Willingness to create or development of a company,
• Job creation and potential

 
 
Selection committee
 
Representatives of ENGIE, Nantes Métropole, the Creative Factory, the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and the Banque Populaire Atlantique will sit on the selection committee.
 
Selection Procedure
 

Applications must include a description of:

• Your team
• Customers and markets
• References
• Development perspectives
• Financial projections

 
You can submit this information in English or French in Word, Powerpoint or PDF format and attach it to your application form. You must also complete the "Summary" form.
 
 
Provisional timetable
 

• Launch of the call for projects: October 17th, 2017
• Deadline for applications: November 30th, 2017 at midnight
• Shortlisting of candidates to be examined more fully (in closed-door selection committee meetings): December 2017
• Presentation from shortlisted candidates: January 2018
• Announcement of the winners: end of January 2018