Conventional cities transform into Smart Cities
More and more people are moving to the cities. As the population grows, so does the challenge of providing residents with an adequate infrastructure for supplying them with energy, water and local transport. Digital solutions from ABB are making an important contribution to transforming conventional cities into Smart Cities. At the Hannover Messe 2019, ABB will present numerous offerings that help cities master current and future challenges. ABB offers fundamental technologies for urban infrastructure - from power and heat supply to water distribution, factory and residential automation, and urban electrification.
ABB Ability-Solutions for Smart Cities at the Hannover Messe 2019
We are driving the electrification of road, rail and water transportation with pioneering technology and the ABB Ability digital offering. ABB Ability empowers utility, industrial, transportation and infrastructure companies to develop or improve their processes. ABB Ability has a portfolio of digital services that turn cities into Smart Cities. The platform combines cross-industry digital expertise and includes devices, systems, solutions and services that, for example, connect utilities and link the individual subsystems of urban infrastructure. ABB Ability currently includes more than 210 digital solutions. For example, the ABB Ability OPTIMAX® energy management solution helps companies make the transition to new business models easier by providing transparent insight into the energy consumption of industrial, commercial and utility companies while helping to reduce environmental impact and costs.
The Smart City Cockpit creates a common operating environment. For example, the district heating network, heat and power generation, water supply including pumps can be bundled in a model that continuously calculates the cost-optimized operating point of the overall system. With regard to energy supply, the Smart City Virtual Power Pool software can automatically monitor generation units, energy storage and controllable loads; if, for example, the city's electric bus fleet is charged at the most favorable time, the own consumption of renewable energies is optimized. Continuous data analysis shortens response times in the event of unforeseen events. ABB's cloud-based automation solutions bring numerous benefits to cities. The efficiency of networked supply systems increases, which in return reduces costs.
Smart Cities-Pillars from ABB
Smart Cities are based on four fundamental pillars:
- Smart Utilities
- Smart Buildings
- Transportation
- Smart Industries
At the Hanover Messe, ABB will be presenting fundamental offerings for all these areas and thus for the urban infrastructure of the future: from smart power and heat supply to electrification of transport systems and automation of factories and residential buildings.
ABB supports cities to become more environmentally friendly
As a result of growing urbanization, cities are increasingly exposed to pollution from various means of transport. The German government has launched several initiatives to improve this situation, to avoid a ban on diesel-powered vehicles and to improve the overall situation in urban life. ABB's solutions are actively helping to reduce CO2, particulate emissions and make cities more environmentally friendly.
Projects in Sweden and Germany
Västerås, Sweden's fifth largest city, provides an example of how a conventional city can become a Smart City. Energy supplier Mälarenergi and ABB are currently digitizing the city's infrastructure. Mälarenergi operates several hydroelectric power stations, the local power grid, the local fiber-optic network, a waste-fired combined heat and power plant, district heating networks, water treatment and wastewater treatment plants, and the water supply system for the city's 150,000 inhabitants. A key objective of the project is to combine the monitoring facilities of the various automated systems into a single control center from which all services will be operated.
In Mannheim, ABB is supporting the local energy utility MVV in developing the "Benjamin Franklin Village" conversion site into a new city district for around 9,000 people. This includes developing the energy management concept for the entire area and equipping it with energy management systems. In Trier and Tübingen, ABB advises and supports cities participating in federal funding programs for clean air such as the „Sofortprogramm Saubere Luft“ in their successful implementation. For cities such as Trier or Tübingen, ABB has already provided systems like charging stations for electric vehicles, which will also be shown at the Hannover Messe 2019.
ABB is making cities "smart" - visitors of the Hannover Messe can see it for themselves in Hall 11, Stand A35. The company will present products, systems, services and concepts urban infrastructure: ABB experts will explain solutions for the "future of energy", the "future of mobility", the "future of industry" and the "future of cities" at the booth.
