Power to Buildings in Paris: paving the way for smart, sustainable buildings

On Tuesday this week, we held the first Power to Buildings Business Hub peer exchange of 2023 in partnership with 施耐德电气 at the company’s high-tech head office in Paris. Buildings are a major source of emissions in Europe. Thus, working to decarbonise our building stock is a must to reach net zero, as we highlighted in our latest news piece this week. As a unique event that gathered a cross-sectoral group of industry players, the peer exchange proved invaluable in introducing the most cutting-edge solutions to help decarbonise the buildings sector in Europe.

Through a wide range of participants – from utilities, energy management, manufacturing, and tech company representatives, to policy experts and European builders’ union delegates – the meeting was an excellent platform for an in-depth overview of all relevant stakeholders. It was also a key opportunity for active in-person discussions and exchange of expertise between the comprehensive list of participants – all actively involved in delivering an ambitious energy transition.

Following on a tour of Schneider Electric's innovative headquarters dubbed the “electric hive” – a blueprint for what a connected home of the future will look like – the #Power2Buildings program continued with an update on active policy developments in Brussels. The focus fell on the contentious Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the upcoming Electricity Market Design reform.

All this set the scene for the brilliant selection of presenters who touched upon some of the most forward-looking solutions to surmount the challenges of renovating Europe’s building stock and making sure that it is fully decarbonised as soon as possible.

• Vincent Minier – Vice President at Schneider Electric's Energy Transition Research, highlighted the company's work on building innovation, solar power, and electromobility, emphasising the potential for electrification in residential and non-residential buildings through their "Buildings at the Nexus of the Energy Transition" case study.
• Francois D'Haegeleer and Martial Genolet – Head of Growth at Urbio ?and Solar Business Manager at Romande Energie respectively, focused on their "High-value, high-impact buildings for solar" case study and the?ongoing efforts to optimise the renovation process by focusing on areas that will provide the most impact in decarbonisation with the use of data, as millions of buildings across the continent still require intensive renovations.
• Luigi Lanuzza Canelli – Head of Global Business Development at Enel X presented their "Enabling Energy Communities — the Italian Case" case study on how to enable energy communities in Italy to achieve their goals on the path towards energy transition and autonomy. He discussed how crucial the future of energy communities can be both in residential and non-residential building complexes that can serve the needs of SMEs. The numerous ways in which utilities can provide equipment, finance opportunities and management solutions for these specific customers were at the heart of this research work.
• Cristina Mata Yandiola – Location Head Europe at Powerledger , presented the "P2P Energy Trading and Local Energy Market Solutions" case study which engaged in peer-to-peer energy trading and local energy market solutions, emphasising the importance of flexibility on the demand side to optimise processes through technological solutions.
• Sandro BELVISI – Strategy & go-to-market at Oracle Energy and Water , discussed their "Behavioural Demand Response" case study and the challenge of matching supply and demand. He highlighted the importance of using artificial intelligence and behavioural science to change the habits of consumers and reduce the peak in the demand curve.

Overall, the event provided significant insights into the challenges and opportunities of decarbonising the building sector. It demonstrated, in a real-world setting, the importance of collaboration between industry experts, exchange of key business understandings on the development of future-proof policies and an efficient strategic approach to drive progress towards a more sustainable future for Europe’s buildings sector.