The IoT platform (SenseOne IoT) is a universal system for managing the energy behavior of the municipality's building infrastructure.

The system has the ability to:

1. Central management of all potential energy resources.
   
2. Creation of reports formulating energy data and indicators (e.g. by group of connection type, by local community, by type of building use, etc.), key performance indicators (KPI), thermographs, etc.
   
3. Potential connection with appropriate measuring equipment to create interaction with sources of energy and not only consumption.
   
4. Potential connection with appropriate software for the utilization of past and current energy data.
   
5. Registration of all electricity supplies of the Municipality.
   
6. Creating events, so that there is an automated notification process in case of non-normal behavior of the facilities (e.g. unexpected consumption from lighting, particularly increased consumption compared to the corresponding previous period, etc.).

• Creation of reports formulating energy data and indicators (e.g. by group of connection type, by local community, by type of building use, etc.), key performance indicators (KPI), thermographs, etc.
• Potential connection with suitable software for the utilization of past and current energy data.
• Also development of Smart City applications, such as smart management of street lighting and its maintenance, smart management of waste bins, smart parking (available spaces, spaces for people with special needs, illegal), free Wi-Fi access points for citizens, electric chargers, etc.

The collaboration with an external partner was done by concluding a public contract. The IT Department provided all the information and carried out site visits with company representatives for the design of the platform. Each phase was presented by the company in order to check if it serves the operational purposes, if it is easy to use and if it extracts the desired data for the further actions of the municipality.

The energy upgrade of the Municipality's infrastructure leads to a reduction in energy consumption, which by extension reduces the Municipality's energy footprint on the environment, and secondly, the reduction in energy consumption saves valuable financial resources for use in other rewarding actions which indicatively can be directed to goals for the achievement of the Covenant of Mayors, to the implementation of programs to improve environmental indicators, etc.

The Municipality benefited from this innovation in the following way:

• Collection of data for the optimal energy and operational efficiency of buildings, facilities, street lighting, and schools and their utilization.
  
• Implementation of actions to change some procedures to deal with out-of-hours consumption and save money.
  
• Usefulness of installed smart meters in places where particular behavior and large consumptions are observed.
  
• Certification of the Municipality according to the ISO50001 standard for submitting funding proposals for energy upgrading of the Municipality to various agencies.
  
• Replacement of old street lighting lamps with led technology with documented measurable results and significant savings.
  
• Highlighting the unnecessary consumption of energy for the subsequent reduction of operating expenses

More specifically:

• Reduction of staff time from data processing and possible errors
  
• Development of smart city actions & applications / qualification for funding
  
• Reduction of the energy/carbon footprint
  
• Utilization of system information at an educational level
  
• Identifying, documenting and, where appropriate, reducing the percentage of idle power
  
• Highlighting the best and worst building facilities and infrastructures through the adoption of goals and the automated monitoring of their achievement indicators - Energy Performance Indicators (EnPIs)
  
• Implementation of a mechanism to automatically prevent unusually high consumptions using alarms, alerts and notifications.

Quantitative results are extracted in various formats (diagrams, tables, alerts, etc.) with broad customization options.

Due to the dispersion of the buildings, infrastructures, and facilities, the organization of the actions and the coordination of those involved was required, in addition to compiling of dispersed information for the contractor to best design the platform.

Teamwork is necessary so that everyone feels and becomes part of the implementation of this initiative. Energy upgrade projects are being carried out and have been planned, on which the use of the platform and its upgrading will provide information for further actions. Financial resources are required to assign to an external partner the tasks for the maintenance and the upgrade of the platform. Personnel who will provide the required data and cooperate with the external partner to achieve the creation of the platform and its maintenance in the data of the municipality are also needed.

Perspective for a universal planning and management control of the city that will help to reduce energy consumption, to the proven energy management efficiency of the Service, to reduce the energy/carbon footprint of the Municipality, to improve the energy performance of Municipal structures, in the development of all forms of smart city applications, etc. Also development of Smart City applications, such as smart management of street lighting, smart management of waste bins, electric chargers, etc.

The energy upgrade of the Municipality's infrastructure leads to a reduction in energy consumption, which by extension reduces the Municipality's energy footprint on the environment with obvious benefits, and secondly, the reduction in energy consumption saves valuable financial resources for use in other rewarding actions which indicatively can be directed to goals for the achievement of the Covenant of Mayors, to the implementation of programs to improve environmental indicators, etc.

This particular platform gives excellent data from which energy consumption information, data and indicators are extracted individually, grouped, by type or by graphs. The above are valuable tools for the Service which automatically derives monitoring data for necessary proposals for improvement and development of actions in the municipal authority that will contribute to protecting the environment and improving the quality of life of the citizens.

AWARD
BEST CITY AWARDS 2020/ Green City/ Energy Management/ ICT Applications / IoT Applications – GOLD

For the implementation of the project, the municipality collaborated with a private sector entity: Senseone Technologies AE of telecommunications and energy IT solutions.

• Type of Innovation: Supply, New Technologies, IOT
• Budget: €14,756.00/ OWN RESOURCES
• Senseone Technologies AE telecommunications and energy IT solutions
• Innovation stage: implementation/operation/exploitation of results
• Beneficiaries: Residents, Municipal authority/Service, visitors