Accomplishments and Projects

Accomplishments and Projects:

Energy demand management, HEQ approach:
Buildings represent the highest energy expenditure in the Principality. A target has been set to reduce unit energy consumption by 20% in all buildings by 2020 compared to 2007. Since 2007, the Government has applied the High Environmental Quality (HEQ) approach to all new buildings in the country, and for the most recent the VHEP (Very High Energy Performance) or LEB (Low-Energy Building) labels.
Buildings in the Apolline Gardens, completed in 2013, have been awarded VHEP certification. These buildings operate on energy produced by the heating and cooling plant in Fontvieille and are also equipped with 380 m² of thermal solar panels which produce 55% of the hot water requirements of the 237 apartments concerned. At the same time, 200 m² of solar photovoltaic panels produce the equivalent of the annual electricity used by 6 apartments.
For all existing public buildings, energy refurbishment measures are being implemented by the Public Buildings Maintenance Department. These measures were initiated in 2006 with the energy audit of the Charles III School. Since then, demand side management efforts have been made in other buildings, including the Saint Charles School and some public car parks.
Alongside the above, the Public Buildings Maintenance Department has developed a remote management system which enables all information concerning the energy consumption of certain buildings to be centralised via a computer network and to carry out remedial action remotely.

Energy performance agreement:

In order to upgrade energy efficiency in public buildings, in 2012, in partnership with the Berlin Energy Agency, the Government implemented an Energy Performance Contract (EPC)**.
This EPC involves owners of a building or a stock of buildings entrusting an energy services company with the implementation of energy performance improvements in buildings and financing them. The company recoups its investment from the savings generated by a reduced energy bill. These energy savings are guaranteed by the company which bears the financial consequences if targets are not met.
The first EPC implemented in Monaco was with Johnson Controls Monaco and concerns a group of 4 public buildings (Albert I School, the Carabineers’ Barracks, the Rainier III Auditorium and the Public Safety) for which the cumulative energy bill amounts to over 650 000 € HT per year. The guaranteed energy performance is 27%, over a contractual period of 12 years, with estimated savings of approximately 170 000 € HT per year.
This project enables the State to have an increasingly energy-efficient stock of buildings, whilst complying with the constraints related to public expenditure control.
Third source station:
To maintain the dependability level of electricity distribution, Monaco is installing a third source station, the work of which began at the beginning of 2013. This equipment, installed underground in the rocky mass of the Sainte Dévote valley, will support the two existing transformer stations and should be in operation by summer 2017.

Seawater operated heat pumps:
By benefitting from the favourable environment due to the proximity of the coast and warm seawater throughout the year, Monaco is a forerunner in technology related to heat pumps powered on seawater (seawater HP). The Principality installed its first units as early as 1963 and currently has approximately 70, producing between 15% and 17% of all the energy consumed in the Principality and offering an annual saving of over 15,000 tonnes of oil equivalent.
By using the energy drawn from the environment, heat pumps supplement or substitute traditional sources of energy.
They enable us to limit power consumption and the emission of some greenhouse gases (GHG) when they are used as a substitute for fossil energies.
Seawater HP technology thus helps to ensure that the Principality meets its national and international commitments with regard to the reduction of GHG emissions and energy consumption management.
The implementation of various heat pumps in Monaco also helps to secure its electricity supply thanks to a reduction in peak power consumption.
Trigeneration, heating and cooling network:
In the Principality, 92% of waste is used to produce energy at the Urban and Industrial Waste Incineration Plant (UIRUI). Put into service in 1980, Monaco’s incinerator, coupled with a turbine generator and a heating and cooling plant, forms a trigeneration complex for electricity, heating and cooling, making it possible to turn the steam produced by the incineration process into energy.
The energy produced by the combustion of waste in the UIRUI is used to produce energy in three forms (trigeneration):
Electricity used for the UIRUI’s own consumption and to supply the urban electricity network.
Steam which in turn enables heating and cooling to be generated via a heat and cooling production plant in order to provide heating and cooling to some buildings in the Fontvieille district.
The capacity of the heating and cooling production plant in Fontvieille was strengthened in 2012, in particular with the arrival of a seawater heat pump which supplies a network extension to real estate operations on abandoned SNCF land and to the future new hospital.
A short-term requalification programme for the UIRUI is aimed at increasing the performance of urban waste treatment as well as increasing the efficiency of the trigeneration system, which will further contribute to the Principality’s energy independence.
In the same spirit, the Government launched two studies in 2015 in partnership with the Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA), focused on the two following areas:
- optimisation of the heating/cooling network and an assessment of the opportunities for its extension;
- optimisation of waste treatment and CO2 recovery.

* In French – THPE (Très Haute Performance Energétique and BBC (Bâtiment Basse Consommation)
** In French – Marché de Performance Energétique (MPE)