During a ceremony at the Princess Elisabeth Station, Sven Kerremans (Laborelec) and Jean Chalon (Schneider Electric) symbolically handed over the keys of the station's technical core to Alain Hubert, President of the International Polar Foundation. The event celebrated the completion of the final systems tests. The Princess Elisabeth Station is now officially the first research station ever to solely operate on renewable energies!
This world première was made possible by an innovative energy management system designed and implemented by Laborelec (GDF Suez), which rests on a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), the "brain" of the station developed by Schneider Electric.
Princess Elisabeth Antarctica thus proves that an alternative approach to energy consumption is possible by distributing available resources according to priorities, instead of endlessly supplying energy to meet an uncontrolled demand. By the end of this Antarctic summer season, a new satellite link will allow all the energy-related systems to be managed and adjusted remotely throughout the winter season.
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