NEMO, a solution that promotes energy efficiency

Tell us about NEMO in a few sentences... 

Our NEMO web platform covers the entire value chain of a city’s heating and cooling networks, from the call for tenders issued by local authorities to the design and management of these networks, so it works from both a commercial and operational viewpoint. NEMO has been under development since 2015 by a multidisciplinary team including engineers, mathematicians and developers within ENGIE Digital. The team also draws on the expertise of the business teams at ENGIE, the world leader in heating and cooling networks. 

What exactly are heating and cooling networks?

In a city, heating networks produce and transport heat to heat buildings in the form of hot water or steam via underground pipes . Based on the same model, cooling networks can be used to air-condition buildings. They are mainly used in tertiary-sector buildings such as offices, shopping centres, hotels, museums and airports.

So what makes NEMO an innovative tool? 

NEMO takes advantage of all available data and uses algorithms to optimise the design of these heating and cooling networks. Our mapping results show both the area’s energy needs and its technical constraints (for example, hydraulic or production constraints).  All this information enables us to model several development scenarios, taking into account constantly changing variables such as prices and needs.  And it really helps: Nemo reduces the primary energy consumption of heating and cooling networks in France and abroad by 3 to 5%.  

Your web platform actually comprises several interconnected solutions... 

Yes. There’s Nemo Market, which lets us identify potential, estimate prospective customers’ consumption and design the network; Nemo Study, our hydraulic simulation tool, a digital twin that provides a better understanding of the network; and Nemo Opti, the control centre assistant, which works a bit like a GPS to forecast demand and optimise the production strategy. 

What will you be presenting at Viva Technology?   

We’re going to demonstrate the use of our tool through different use cases, based on maps. This will enable the public to visualise energy requirements on a city scale and to see how the system behaves through simulations.

Why attend Viva Technology?  

So that as many people as possible can find out about our solution.  By investing in a digital solution like NEMO, ENGIE is demonstrating that running heating and cooling networks is at the heart of its strategy.

On this site, we talk about innovation. If you had to pick just one for posterity, which would it be? 

That’s a difficult question!  If I had to pick just one, an excellent example of innovation in renewable energy comes to mind: DARWIN, a software that ENGIE uses to help operators collect and analyse data from their renewable assets in real time, so they can increase revenue and optimise costs. Designed by ENGIE Digital, DARWIN collects data from renewable power plants in 21 countries and hosts it in the cloud. In total, more than 16 GW of capacity is connected through it. The platform is currently used to provide remote control and security for 100 wind farms and 17 solar power plants in France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Poland, Romania and the Netherlands.  

After Viva Technology, what’s your next challenge? 

I’d like to mention two. Firstly, to support ENGIE operators in their efforts to automate the management of their networks using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. Secondly, to constantly enrich the data that enables us to better estimate energy requirements, so that we can provide the most relevant possible response. Our challenge is to remain at the cutting edge of technical developments and to ensure that our solution keeps ENGIE in the top spot in the field of urban heating and cooling networks.