Urbio's portrait on RTS: Accelerating the Energy Transition from Trenches to Rooftops
- Dec 4, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 30
The energy transition is a physical reality—visible in the trenches dug for heating networks and solar panels on rooftops. But as RTS’s Basik (Radio Télévision Suisse) program recently highlighted in a feature on Urbio, the success of these assets is determined long before ground is broken.
Urbio's clip on national TV was the opportunity to discuss the "invisible" digital backbone of the energy transition. Standing on-site where our customers Romande Energie and SI Nyon are transforming digital bits into real pipes and panels, Co-founder Sébastien Cajot explained a critical industry bottleneck: while we have the hardware to decarbonize, the pace of deployment is too slow.
The "Google Maps" of Energy Planning
Answering the fundamental questions of district heating network planning—Where do we dig? Which buildings connect?—is mathematically complex.
"There is work upstream that we don't see," Cajot explained in the interview. "A planning phase that uncovers where the relevant hotspots are."
Urbio shifts this paradigm. As depicted in the interview, the platform acts as a "Google Maps for energy," providing utilities with a dynamic digital twin. For district heating planning software to be truly effective in 2024, it must go beyond mapping; it needs to automate sizing and simulate financial and carbon ROI instantly.
Breaking Silos: From Ground to Sky
The transition isn't just happening underground. The RTS feature demonstrated how Urbio facilitates a holistic view, helping utilities identify synergies between thermal networks in the street and solar PV potential on rooftops. A crucial step towards integrated energy systems and sector coupling that leverages local resources optimally.
By compressing months of feasibility studies into minutes of computation, Urbio empowers energy leaders to prioritize resources on projects with the highest impact. As Cajot summarized: "The days are counted. The faster we advance, the more impact we have."
Big thanks to Loïs Siggen Lopez and the Basik team for shining a light on this topic.