27 February 2023. Veolia, a leading energy, water and waste management company, is participating in a European pilot project called I-NERGY (Artificial Intelligence for Next Generation Energy), as an Energy Service Company (ESCO), becoming responsible for providing data on the operating parameters of two of its facilities and collaborating in the analysis required to enable the facilities to improve their energy efficiency while reducing costs.

In order to guarantee the measurement and verification of energy savings and to achieve an adequate balance with the initial investment, a tool has been developed based on artificial intelligence, using static and dynamic data from the monitoring of an eight-storey residential building located in Burgos, with 80 homes in total, and a hospital located in Cordoba, with more than 1,500 available beds.

This way, Veolia will apply artificial intelligence-based optimisation techniques in both pilot buildings to reduce energy consumption and its associated costs, as well as to adjust the costs resulting from the operation and maintenance of the energy production systems. Another of the goals that Veolia aims to achieve with this project is to maximise the use of renewable energy sources with different more sustainable alternatives so as to contribute to the decarbonisation of the residential and tertiary sector.

Increase confidence in Energy Performance Contracts

Among the pilot project's goals is to increase confidence in the verification of energy savings in so-called Energy Performance Contracts, which are often used in industrial or commercial premises. Contracts in which the energy services company undertakes to implement renewable energies together with energy efficiency measures on the beneficiary's premises, guaranteeing the savings obtained. The customer, in turn, undertakes to pay for the measures according to the energy savings achieved as the result of their implementation.

Javier Martín, Director of Innovation Projects and European Funds at Veolia Spain, explains:

The main challenge of this pilot project is applying artificial intelligence tools to improve customer service. On the other hand, this project contributes significantly to increasing end-users' confidence in energy saving contracts. It will also help to implement new business models based on energy optimisation through artificial intelligence. The next steps will be the deployment and validation of the tools developed in I-NERGY in a larger real environment from 2024 onwards.

About Veolia
The Veolia Group aspires to become the pacesetter company in ecological transformation. Present in five continents, with around 179,000 employees, the Group designs and implements practical and specific solutions for managing, water, waste and energy which help to change the panorama radically. With its three complementary activities, Veolia contributes to developing access to resources, and to the preservation and renewal of available resources. In 2020, Veolia Group supplied drinking water to 95 million people and sanitation services to 62 million, produced nearly 43 million MWh and recovered 47 million tons of waste. Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE) achieved consolidated revenue of €26,010 billion in 2020. www.veolia.com

Non-negotiables: Veolia is firmly committed to promoting compliance with the law and its ethical values, by all its employees. The company's policy is directed at satisfying our customers' needs in full, offering technical quality and always following a culture of respect for people, the environment and the rules of each group. In this sense, compliance with the law, and especially criminal law, is always a priority.

Press contact
Marisol Uria
Tel. +34 646 92 12 25
marisol.uria@veolia.com