The contract is worth a total of approximately 60 million euros, which amounts to 16.38 million for the construction of the new facilities by OTV-Veolia and 43.5 million euros for nine years operation. The aim is to build a truly circular economy around wastewater with the installation of the anaerobic digester, along with various innovative processes.
Work on the the anaerobic digester will begin in 2018 for commissioning scheduled at the end of 2020, allowing the La Chauvinière plant to produce energy in the form of biomethane from wastewater. The amount of gas the plant will inject into the local reticulated network will the equivalent to the gas consumed by one of the city’s buses.
Veolia will also introduce a number of innovations to help make the La Chauvinière plant a virtuous model committed to minimising the energy consumed by the plant and its facilities, while also developing new technology. For example, the Alcion process converts CO2 from the purification of biogas into sodium bicarbonate that can be used by the neighbouring household waste energy recovery facility. This is a first at such a scale for this type of plant.
Using cutting-edge digital tools, the La Chauvinière wastewater treatment plant will be entirely managed by an integrated ‘Hypervision 360’ control centre that will use all service data and information to continuously optimise operation and production. The municipal services of Le Mans Métropole will also have direct access to this data and will be able to track the key performance indicators transparently and in real time.
Veolia’s subsidiary CFSP expects to hire 16 apprentices locally to join the water treatment plant’s team. The plant will also be a key factor in advancing the population’s ecological awareness through a new interactive educational visit. Finally, the La Sarthe river flowing past the plant will be the focus of another project to demonstrate how industry and nature can co-exist harmoniously.
“Working alongside Le Mans, we will make the La Chauvinière plant a real reference in the water treatment sector” said Frédéric Van Heems, Chief Executive Officer of Water for Veolia in France. “This plant illustrates what tomorrow’s plants will be like, that is, firmly committed to the circular economy, benefiting from excellent service in the forefront of innovation, and delivering remarkable performance.”
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