Rennes Métropole Sees The Value of a Private Lora Network

In the west of Rennes, a first-of-its-kind smart city project is underway. We produce energy thanks to the subway. It's a geothermal installation. And then this energy is used to heat 54 flats. In the boiler room, we have some sensors, energy sensors, gas... sensors, water meter sensors, and we use them to follow up the energy efficiency to make the difference between the energy production and the energy consumption and we check the return on investment of the installation. The installation relies upon 10 sensors that took less than an hour to install. It's all powered by a private lower network that has the capability to send data from sensors to gateways up to a kilometer apart. This private lure network is shared across the entire REM Metropole area, which in addition to this city includes over 40 others. We have needs to collect data everywhere in our territory and not only where there are people and where it's profitable somehow. Learn why the REM Metropole area decided to deploy this network independently from an operator in today's video on Current Insights. It's an experiment that began in 2016, the same time IoT was rising in popularity. Many of our systems and of our public services will sooner or later include some kind of form of IoT. And we saw the LoRa technology as very relevant for a municipality. Local leaders also favored LoRa for its low energy consumption and long range. That means sensors could be placed in areas with no electricity, which greatly expanded Wren's ability to collect data across the entire territory. We started a little experiment with a few gateways and a few dozen sensors. There were energy consumption sensors and that's how we started actually. So we did convert existing sensors to LoRa. By 2018, Red Scal- this network across its entire territory with the help of Y6 Labs, which was tasked with deploying and maintaining this technology. Y6 Labs deployed an IoT network server that allows Rens to remotely manage and operate its sensors and current gateways. It was all put to the test when Rens deployed a territory -wide waste management solution. We have 3 ,500 public waste management system connected to the our network and we use these sensors to measure the level of garbage in the waste management. These small sensors are not so expensive, are easy to install since there is no wire at all. They are working with battery for several years so it's very easy to deploy, there is no maintenance and you get data very easily. quickly. It's a good way to save energy, to save money and to improve processes. I would say that the most difficult is not the technology, it's making people change their habits and that's very difficult and I guess it will take some time to make people change. That challenge underscores one of the main goals behind this network. more than just having the network is to have people that are willing to use this data later because collecting the data is of course not enough and you need to have people for example working in the building maintenance or I don't know teachers in schools or something that are that want to use this data to to gather the to transform it to transform it into knowledge now interestingly the smallest city in this territory is among those finding the biggest success. So in Saint-Sulpice-la-Forêt, it's the smallest smart city in the world. It's 1,200 inhabitants. It's located at the north of Rennes, 10 kilometers at the north of Rennes. It uses the same LoRaWAN networks. We have 60 gateway, 60 antennas located all over the Rennes-Metropole area. We cover all the area. And in this small city, we use sensors for two things, energy measurement. So in the school, for example, we measure the energy consumption, probably from the wall plug, from the lighting, and also from the heating system. The second thing that is very innovative, I think it's not the first time in the world, but at least it's the first time in the West of France. We use actuators to set up the heating system. We use very traditional electrical system, electrical heating system, and we just add an actuator, a LoRaWAN actuator, to set up globally the temperature in the room of the school, but also in other schools. building from this local city. That city expects to see about a 20 % reduction in energy consumption costs over a three -year period after spending 20 ,000 euros on the installation and sensors. They expect to see a return on investment in about five years. It's one of the many energy efficiency projects taking place across REN with this lower network. Energy efficiency is the second largest use case in addition to waste. Other projects include the modernization an old swimming pool in Cézanne-Savigne with energy and fluid consumption sensors. The swimming pool previously accounted for a third of the city's energy costs. A number of sensors have also been deployed at 60 bus stations across Rennes to monitor the water consumption in public restrooms. That enables staff to easily detect leaks. And it all comes at a pretty affordable price point according to Y6 Labs. The company estimates that it costs 1 euro per resident across the territory, which estimates to about 700,000 euros. I mean, it depends on what you compare it to, but it's a lot less expensive than, say, a fiber network. But despite the early successes, some challenges remain before more city services can really transition over and rely on this network. Today, if one gateway stops working, it can take a few days until we can go up there and... and repair it. And if we want to get serious about it and start selling access to this network for our partners and experimentations, we need to step up that quality of service. It all comes as France continues to debate how to manage citizens' digital rights in the age of IoT. Rent Metropol is considered a leader in France. open data movement. Most recently, the territory worked with the European Union to launch the Rudi portal, where REN citizens can give local companies permission to use your data to improve their services. It's a project still development, but so far leaders say that early workshops show ordinary citizens aren't aware of the risks that come with personal data management. It's a challenge that needs to be tackled as the LORE Network continues to scale across the territory, and we'll be sure to update you. each step along the way. For more coverage like this, be sure to stick with Current Insights, and if you have questions on this story, hit the link below.