The ZAC Méridia construction site in Nice.

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Sophie Boulet

  • The purpose of this geothermal drilling is to produce sustainable heat and air conditioning for the buildings of the ZAC Méridia in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes).

  • The buildings in the area will thus be provided with clean and cheaper energy.

West of Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), near the Allianz Riviera stadium, the airport and the Moulins district, a geothermal drilling site is underway.

The goal is to provide clean and sustainable energy to the buildings that will form the ZAC (Concerted Development Zone), but also the sports plain and the market gardeners' island, to constitute the vast eco-district of Nice Méridia.

“We dig between 40 and 50 meters underground, where there is flow with a water resource at 15 ° C,” explains Eduard Maldonado, director of the Méridia Smart Energie Project at Idex.

There are four steel pipes underground: two for hot, two for cold.

The fifth tube is the source pipe which pumps the water table.

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Two pipes through which cold water, hot water and a fifth pipe will pass for geothermal energy.

- O. Ayed / 20 minutes / ANP

This geothermal borehole, carried out in the depths of the Var river, makes it possible to harvest enough energy to supply the future buildings that will make up the ZAC, namely housing, hotels and offices.

Heating and air conditioning will be produced by sustainable and renewable energy which has "no impact on the water table", specifies Eduard Maldonado.

This represents 82% of renewable energy and recovery for heating and 78% for refrigeration, details at Idex, in charge of the project.

It takes two weeks for the drilling and two weeks for the preparation of the space that will cover it.

- O. Ayed / 20 minutes / ANP

"A smart and connected district"

At the heart of the energy exchange system: the power plant which is currently under construction.

It will be ready "by June 2021", says the project director.

This ecological and sustainable system is also interesting for the purses of future guests.

This energy will cost them "20% less," says Eduard Maldonado.

Some buildings in the ZAC, already built, benefit from this geothermal energy.

And while waiting for the power plant, the exchanges are carried out thanks to a boiler.

The pipes will then be connected to the latter when it is finished.

"Ultimately, the idea is to make this district energy self-sufficient", continues the specialist.

Because beyond geothermal energy, each building is equipped with photovoltaic panels.

"We want to make it a smart and connected district so that the electricity produced by the panels is redistributed at the heart of the area, between the buildings".

And thus create a “private electricity network in the neighborhood,” he concludes.

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