In May and June of this year, the French association Smile (Smart Ideas to Link Energies) inaugurated its showroom, duplicated in two cities, Rennes and Nantes. This showcase for French innovations in smart grids is a collaborative project supported by 2 regions, Brittany and Pays-de-la-Loire. On November 15, the showroom will welcome visitors to present the innovative projects labeled Smile and will offer four thematic tours.
In April 2016, 3 candidates won the call for projects launched a year earlier by the government for the large-scale deployment of Smart Grids, as part of the “Sustainable City” solution of the New Industrial France: FLEXGRID (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur), SMILE (Brittany and Pays-de-la-Loire) and YOU & GRID (Métropole de Lille and Hauts-de-France).
FLEXGRID (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur), SMILE (Bretagne et Pays-de-la-Loire) et YOU & GRID (Métropole de Lille et Hauts-de-France)
Three years later, SMILE is already supporting more than 60 innovative projects in Brittany and Pays-de-la-Loire and over 260 stakeholders are involved. Smile was able to demonstrate the dynamism and common will of these two regions to provide concrete solutions to the climate crisis. secure the electric grid, support local employment and engage in the energy transition.
During the inauguration in Rennes, the mayor of the city and the president of the regional council of Brittany reaffirmed their support for the project. The region is indeed strongly committed to the energy transition since the Breton Electric Pact co-signed in December 2010 with the French government, ADEME, RTE and ANAH, following a harsh winter that exposed the fragilities of the electric grid. The “pact” thus had the ambition to reinforce the control of electricity demand, to massively deploy all renewable energies and to secure supply, particularly via the deployment of smart grids.
Since then, the region has doubled its production of renewable energies, and the trend should continue, as Brittany also has the greatest potential for the development of marine energies in France.
A collaborative project
Enedis and RTE, the French DSO and TSO, have also contributed to the success of SMILE, actively supporting the project since the beginning, with an investment of 50M euros for the digitization of the source stations, the deployment of posts “new generation” electric and modernization of regional driving agencies. The Rennes showroom was also hosted in a building belonging to Enedis.
SMILE has always been a collaborative and multi-actor project, associating SMEs and start-ups with large corporations, small municipalities in Brittany, large cities and regions. The métropole of Rennes has thus become involved in SMILE by becoming a partner of several projects, such as Open Energy Data. This project helps municipalities to reduce and optimize energy consumption and make informed decisions on the operation of equipment, renovation of buildings or user awareness. Nantes is also on the move, with several projects on its territory, such as the collective self-consumption project launched last year. As for the islands of Sein and Ouessant, they lead ambitious projects to divert carbon energies and reach 100% of renewable energies in 2030.
In both Nantes and Rennes, you will be able to discover in the Smile showroom numerous innovative projects, through an evolving scenography, on themes that cover sustainable mobility as well as energy for islands, smart buildings, grid modernisation, self-consumption, or demand-side management.
The European Utility Week that will take place for the first time in Paris, next November, will offer visitors a unique opportunity to discover flagship innovations and projects in France, with showroom and on-site visits organized by Smile on November 15th.
Registration is accessible here: https://www.thinksmartgrids.fr/en/european-utility-week-2019-french-smart-grid-showroom-and-site-visits