In the Morocco the Brazil China and Australia

"We are the first private operator in the solar thermal", says Patricia Cortijo, Director environment of Accor. The hotel group comes to equip its 100th establishment of a system of solar water heater. With 8.179 square metres of solar panels and a production of 3.739 megawatt hours in 2009, the roofs of the group have become small renewable operators. Global group, it is a drop of water in the hotels 4.100 plumbing. French level, a few dozens of facilities yet help the sector from craft to industrialization.

The adventure of Accor in solar dates back to 1998 and marks the first foray of the group in the environment. The accelerator coup however intervened in 2006, in partnership with Ademe. The objective was to equip a hundred hotels in France. "We have identified the buildings on the 600 in the France, says Patricia Cortijo". We have excluded the establishments under franchise or managed by Accor to retain only those held in her own. It took then also exclude those with no terraces or sufficiently spacious technical premises.

Administrative delays

Since then, the crisis came cast its shadow on the initial target, the group have not invested as much as expected: the hundred equipment exist... but around the world. In the Morocco, the Brazil, China and Australia. The French project has also been administrative delays, both in editing of the records in the establishment of building permits. Centralized management of the Group was particularly baffled by the regional organization of Ademe.

These difficulties do not call into question the final goal of 100 facilities, always scheduled including the installations already in different French brand of the Group: 12 formula 1, Etap Hotel, Ibis 24, 6 Novotel 10 and 4 other French sites. Formula 1 took advantage of a campaign of renovation of its rooms and the high standardisation of these hotels to integrate water heaters. Ibis, is the brand of Accor the more involved in the environment with ISO 14001 certification.

Accor has implemented a small Committee to push the solar powered lights. Compound services purchasing, technical and sustainable development, it first commissioned studies Tecsol Office to prepare a tender on 100 systems. "He was including to avoid over-sizing of the facilities, which can generate some overheating in the summer", by Patricia Cortijo. The French OEM Clipsol was selected on the basis of a partnership. To the atomisation of the installers and the heterogeneity of their jurisdiction, Accor preferred outsource Clipsol installation sites. Their teams have also worked on the design of a single customized. To reduce the costs of installation, the support structure of the panels was prefabricated. The partnership also allows Clipsol to experiment on some sites of the innovative techniques such as vacuum tubes.

Of 10 to 15 of the needs

The Group has invested approximately EUR 6 million in this operation, half of them for the France. Its officials originally projected an average price per square metre around 700 euros, but instead found a cost of 800 euros. These panels have provided 40 of the production of their domestic hot water. As this position represents 20 to 30 of the energy of a position of such activity, the solar thermal filled with 10 to 15 of energy needs. With an economy annual 28 euros per square metre, the system promises a time return on investment of ten to fifteen years, even with the aid of Ademe. The use of several offices has weighed on the invoice, which also suffers heavy follow-up measures of the energy performance of the facilities under Ademe, of the order of 3,000 euros by hotel. Since 2008, the partnership of the group with the Ademe conducts heat Fund.

Equipped with EUR 1 billion for the period from 2009 to 2011, this Fund is financed by the State to support the growth of renewable energy in the production of heat. The projects are managed in two modes: large biomass heat plants subject to an annual tender ADEME and the smaller projects are managed on a case by case basis by the regional directorates of Ademe. The Accor operation less naturally fits into the heat, his intermediate in size and its centralized organization Fund, but its leaders welcome the efforts of the Ademe to facilitate the management