Successful Collaboration as part of a humanitarian project in West Africa
12/04/2018News
Four years after the initial ideas on how to refurbish the Monaco Pavilion, the Ineo and SMEG teams took part in the inauguration of the Centre and presented the installations to the President of Burkina Faso, Mr Roch Marc Christian Kaboré and S.A.S. Prince Albert II of Monaco, in the presence of the official delegations and the Burkina and international press. This simple, local production, which illustrates the Group’s values, will enable this new centre to reduce its energy costs significantly and make its start-up phase simpler, thereby contributing towards making its training activities and actions in the service of the most disadvantaged a long-term proposition.
Their Serene Highnesses (SAS) Prince Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlene and His Excellency the President of Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, accompanied by his wife Sika Kaboré
A Monegasque initiative, a synergy of specialist skills and Engie expertise
Thomas BATTAGLIONE, Chief Executive Officer of SMEG, the electricity supply arm of BU France RESEAUX, explains the initial challenge: “The project began in 2014 with the question of how the Monaco Pavilion at the Milan World Expo, which was conceived around the theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” could be developed so as to be able to give it a “second wind” with an ecological and humanitarian purpose. At the suggestion of the Monaco Red Cross (CRM), the Government of Monaco approved the transformation of the Pavilion into an innovative, sustainable training and accommodation facility in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso”. As the Principality’s energy partner, SMEG carried out the initial studies in 2015. The hybrid solar solution with energy storage was approved very rapidly.
“Supporting and developing a new vision of global energy that is sustainable and accessible to all is one of the Group’s leitmotifs. Because Engie deals with the entire energy value chain, it seemed to us to be entirely natural to utilize a synergy of specialist skills within the Group”, adds Thomas BATTAGLIONE. The project commenced from there based on a close and fruitful collaboration among Engie Ineo Energy & Systems, Engie Ineo PACA and SMEG.
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The Burkina Red Cross Multi-Purpose Training Centre, which is the region’s future economic hub”, notes Christian Philippon, the SMEG mission leader and project supervisor, “will therefore have a 56 kWc photovoltaic field, a 4,700 Ah 48V stationary battery park and a group of inverters that will enable a three-phase current to be supplied to the pavilion”. “Annual energy production will be around 100 MWh, which is the annual electricity consumption of around thirty homes for four people in France”, says Louis PEREZ, the Africa Director of Ineo Energy & Systems.
SMEG and Energies Nouvelles Ineo PACA developed the project from a financial and operational standpoint, carrying out the administrative implementation of the operation, designing the PV installation and equipping a 40-foot container with inverters and batteries. With its local subsidiary in Burkina Faso, Ineo Energy & Systems built the solar panels with Adiwatt, and installed the various electrical connections that link the container, the solar modules and the Training Centre. The budget required to complete this operation, which was funded by SMEG, was €250,000.
Find out more about SMEG
The Société Monégasque de l’Electricité et du Gaz (SMEG) distributes electricity and gas throughout the Principality of Monaco.
Since 1987, it has operated a thermo-frigorific plant that supplies an urban heating and cooling network serving Fontvieille and îlot Rainier III through the recovery of energy supplied by the waste management centre of its subsidiary, Société Monégasque d’Assainissement (SMA). It is also responsible for maintaining and operating public lighting installations. Its 2016 turnover was €65.8 million, and it has 94 employees. Its main shareholder is ENGIE* (2016 turnover: €66,6 billion), which owns 64% of its shares, followed by the Monegasque State with 20% and EDEV ( a subsidiary of the EDF Group) with 15%. SMEG is certified ISO 9001, 2015 version, ISO 14001, 2015 version and OHSAS 1800, 2008 version.
*(GDF Suez is now ENGIE)