Interview with Marie-Laure Piqué, Engineering and Christophe Chaussende, Purchasing Director / Logistics – material resource center – Nîmes university hospital
To optimize resources, the hospital made the decision to invest in renewable energy and thus participate in the energy transition without engaging investments. Urbasolar was the one to invest, design, install, and operate the 17,000 m2 of photovoltaic parking canopies with a capacity of 2.3 MWp.
« We consulted with several companies specialized in photovoltaic energy to truly understand the economic models, with the goal of integrating into the university hospital establishment the installation of parking canopies. This operation allowed us to redesign the organization of the parking area in terms of quality, to create additional spaces, to develop alternatives to cars, and to increase carpooling, with the goal of reducing the amount of vehicles circulating at the hospital. A call for offers was launched at the beginning of 2017 and Urbasolar was selected for the pertinence and professionalism of their proposal, as well as it offering a more esthetically pleasing metal and wood solution.” With this project, the Nîmes Hospital is rethinking travel by reserving parking spaces for carpools, installing electric recharging stations, and is preparing to install electric bicycles for its employees.
For Marie-Laure Piqué, these canopies are part of a global social liability* process that is part of the hospital’s 2017-2021 establishment plan: “The hospital has instated for several years now, a policy of energy economy and the streamlining of water consumption in different logistical sectors. A technician is responsible for the energy management of the hospital. In this way, we can closely track consumption. »