With a network of more than 15 branches and 2,100 employees, GDF SUEZ Energy Services subsidiary Cofely reports annual revenue of around €261 million in Spain. The Smart City Expo exhibition held in Barcelona between November 19 and 21 last year provided the perfect opportunity to showcase the knowledge and experience of its experts.

One of Cofely's flagship installations in Spain was the centerpiece of the company's presentation. This facility supplies the Barcelona district heating and cooling network - the largest in Spain - with energy generated in the Forum district plant, which has been operational since 2004, and the Tanger plant, which opened in the 22@ technology park district in 2012. The network is managed by Districlima, in which GDF SUEZ holds a 70% equity stake.

Find out more about the official opening of Barcelona's new energy generating plant

"One of our goals is to develop Smart Cities in Spain," confirms Isabel Tejero, Engineer and Deputy Technical Director at Cofely Spain. To achieve this, six working groups were set up a year ago following the strategic partnership agreement signed by GDF SUEZ with the City of Barcelona in October 2012. "Covering issues that range from mobility to building management and performance, they form a highly committed hub of expertise and innovation."

Cit'Ease™, the real-time collaborative control panel software developed by GDF SUEZ that very recently emerged from the French laboratories of CRIGEN,was alsoshown for the first time at the exhibition in prototype form. Designed to meet the needs of councilors, municipal services and citizens, this application gathers, centralizes and networks vast amounts of local authority data in order to help city managers regulate flows by optimizing infrastructures.

GDF SUEZ Energy Spain business card

In Spain, GDF SUEZ is present on all the value chain of the energy, the electricity production to the energy services, including the water treatment and the industrial waste.

3 questions for Etienne Drouet,

Smart Project Leader

"In practical terms, Cit'Ease™ is a collaborative system of today that allows us to anticipate the challenges of tomorrow…"> Read on…

The 2014 goals for the Cofely Expertise and Innovation Center in Spain are:

  • To extract maximum benefit from the Dashboard energy services management system developed by GDF SUEZ
  • To create urban project scenarios for 2050
  • To build models for the cities of tomorrow within the City Protocol Society alliance
  • To identify new deployment areas suitable for the installation and operation of district heating and cooling networks
  • To optimize energy consumption in selected Barcelona City Authority buildings by using building management technology/li>
  • To promote Zero Energy Building techniques to construct positive energy buildings (one industrial building is already under construction)
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