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Smart Grid Energy Management Platform for Eco-Districts

Solution Overview

The City of Paris developed an energy system management platform at the neighbourhood level in the Clichy-Batignolles eco-district to enable real-time monitoring and optimisation of energy production and consumption.[5] This approach, known as CORDEES (Co-Responsibility in District Energy Efficiency & Sustainability), represents the first smart grid implementation in Paris's largest eco-district.[1] The initiative combines digital monitoring technology with collaborative governance to address the gap between theoretical building performance commitments and actual energy efficiency outcomes.[4]

Technical Components

The Community Energy Management Platform serves as an interoperable and multi-user system that monitors, consolidates and analyses energy data in real time from all buildings (electricity and heat) and public facilities including electric vehicle stations, street lighting and automated waste collection.[1][2] The platform, also referred to as Smart-E, records the energy consumption of each building on an hour-by-hour basis for each type of equipment including heating, lighting, kitchen appliances, laundry, use of consoles and computers, and television, with everything modeled at district scale.[7] The system detects drifts and suggests optimization scenarios for energy use across the district.[4] Deployment of sensors (instrumentation) in buildings began at the end of February 2018, representing a key step of the project.[1][4] The facilitator uses this data analysis platform with systemic, real-time analysis to improve the coordination of production and demand.[5] The network consolidates all energy data from 12 real estate programs including consumption, peak consumption, production, level of autonomy, and storage capacity.[6]

The Clichy-Batignolles eco-district incorporates substantial renewable energy infrastructure to support the monitoring system. The heating network gets 85% of its power from renewable geothermal energy for heating and hot water.[3][7] Water collected from the Albien aquifer has a temperature of about 30°C, and heat pumps raise the water temperature to 65°C for domestic hot water production or to 50-65°C for district heating purposes.[7] The heat exchange station was built 10 meters below the Earth's surface to protect the environment and save space.[7] Additionally, 35,000 square meters of photovoltaic panels on roofs provide 40% of the eco-district's electricity consumption, generating 4,500 MWh per year.[3][7] Public lighting and elevator consumption are offset by electricity generated from 40,000 square meters of photovoltaic roofs spread over different buildings.[6] The insulation and bioclimatic design of buildings lower heating needs to 15 kWh per square meter per year, equivalent to the German Passivhaus standard for passive houses.[3] Paris City Hall established a 15 kWh/sq.m/year heating limit for Clichy-Batignolles based on an indoor temperature of 18°C.[7] All buildings meet the requirements of the Paris Climate Plan with consumption of less than 50 kWh/m²/year for housing and offices.[8]

Implementation Details

The CORDEES project operates in the Clichy-Batignolles eco-district, a 54 hectare site under construction at the former SNCF rail yard in the north of the Batignolles neighbourhood in Paris 17th arrondissement.[1][3] Building began in 2010 and was scheduled to be finished in 2024.[7] The district includes 3,400 housing units, 140,000 square meters of offices, 38,000 square meters of public facilities, 31,000 square meters of retail space and culture and leisure spaces.[6] The environmental ambition of Clichy-Batignolles was conceived to go much further than the objectives of the Energy Master Plan assigned for the rest of Paris, as the creation of this 54 hectare district appeared to be an opportunity to contribute to the city's energy transition goals.[4]

The project received 4.3 million euros allocated by the European Union through the Innovative Urban Actions call for projects, with a total ERDF budget of EUR 4,364,796.48.[1][6] The subsidy contract was signed by the Mayor of Paris in April 2017, with a kick-off event and press conference organized in Paris City Hall in May 2017.[1] The consortium formed around the leadership of the City of Paris and composed of the urban developer, a public lab and two start-ups specialized in smart-grids and sustainable projects.[4] Partnership members included Ville de Paris, Une autre ville (UAV) as a private company, Paris Batignolles Aménagement (PBA) as a public/private company, ARMINES as a research center, and EMBIX as a private company.[1] The project was led by the City of Paris in partnership with Paris & Métropole Aménagement, the companies EMBIX and Une Autre Ville, and the engineering school MINES ParisTech through its research centre for energy efficiency of systems.[3]

The consortium completed public procurement for the deployment of smart-grids in Clichy-Batignolles and planned to start implementation from September 2017, with interventions scheduled according to buildings' delivery to avoid temporary embarrassment.[4] In June 2017, the project held its first workshop with inhabitants and local associations to get them involved and imagine future services.[1] The project planned to deliver a BtoC community portal V1 by April 2019 and energy services developed for operators and end-users by June 2019.[1] By October 2019, the project planned to have the final version of the Community Energy Management Platform developed, with standard clauses for new economic conditions and contracting scheme in place, and the Urban Energy New Deal and Urban Sustainability Trustee Facilitator elaborated.[1]

Paris Batignolles Aménagement drove an expertise of the heating network in the Clichy-Batignolles district after delivery of the East side and discovered important drifts between the theoretical performances contractualized with real estate developers and the real performances when the buildings are occupied.[4] The challenge of the project was to move from theoretical performances commitment with real estate developers to real performances commitment with all the actors of the energy chain, from the energy providers to the end-users passing by the building developers.[4]

Benefits and Impacts

The project aimed to reach the energy efficiency objective of 50 kWh per square meter and 90% less CO2 emissions in the Clichy-Batignolles eco-district.[1][2] Based on the Smart-E model, the district population was to be informed about the ecological actions they can take and, in parallel, studies would be conducted to balance heat and electricity supply and demand as effectively as possible.[7] The CEMP development in Clichy-Batignolles was intended to pave the way for Paris's Scheme Manager for Digital City to improve digital services for citizens and public administrations, develop ICT for urban management, foster democratic participation and enable new services through open data.[4] The Clichy-Batignolles eco-district was intended to be a trial neighborhood for the future urban districts of Greater Paris, with its 131 cities and population of 7.2 million.[7]

Climate Adaptation Relevance

The initiative addresses climate adaptation through comprehensive energy efficiency measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while building resilience into urban infrastructure. The project's focus on real-time monitoring and optimization of energy systems enables the district to respond dynamically to changing conditions and maintain performance standards. The integration of renewable energy sources and passive building design reduces vulnerability to energy supply disruptions while contributing to citywide climate transition goals.

Business Analysis

The project established a first of its kind multi-stakeholders energy governance system called the Urban Energy New Deal (UEND), which defines on a collective basis the energy commitments and the contractual, financial and regulatory conditions necessary to its successful implementation.[1][9] This new deal was designed to move from theoretical performance commitments with real estate developers to real performance commitments with all actors of the energy chain.[4] The project introduced a new actor called the Urban Sustainability Trustee Facilitator to provide technical recommendations, ensure stakeholder cooperation, end user empowerment and coordinate the creation and implementation of services.[1] This energy facilitator for the neighbourhood proposes technical recommendations for the energy transition, ensures cooperation between stakeholders and assists users with the adoption of different schemes.[5] The facilitator also coordinates the creation and implementation of new services for the neighbourhood, and the project was required to define a new business model that would ensure the energy facilitator becomes a permanent post.[5]

The platform, led by a neighborhood energy facilitator, tested a new collaborative governance that involves the co-responsibility of actors involved in energy performance.[6] From 2018, the project endeavored to meet these challenges by combining the new possibilities offered by digital technology with a new business model for energy governance and management at the neighbourhood level.[5] This operation was used to test a new form of energy governance for all of the stakeholders in a neighbourhood.[5] The City of Paris planned to work with network operators to carry out information and energy management campaigns directed at Parisians, relying on feedback from the CORDEES operation.[5][10]

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