Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Infrastructure

  • Parkopedia info about parking spaces, available on Skoda’s Connect App

    Parkopedia info about parking spaces, available on Skoda’s Connect App

    Skoda drivers now receive enhanced support in their search for vacant parking spaces, after the Czech car manufacturer has concluded a cooperation agreement with Parkopedia.

    As a result, Skoda drivers have access to real-time information on millions of parking spaces throughout Europe, which is displayed via the vehicle’s navigation system or the Skoda Connect App.

    Hans Puvogel, COO of Parkopedia says: ”We are delighted to offer ŠKODA our premium parking services in Europe across multiple platforms. This agreement is one more example of how Parkopedia delivers seamlessly integrated parking experiences.”

    Founded in 2007, Parkopedia provides detailed information on more than 70 million parking spaces in 15.000 cities and 89 countries worldwide.

    These include multi-storey car parks, public and private parking facilities.

  • BNP Paribas Bank to fund energy efficiency projects from Polish homeowners

    BNP Paribas Bank to fund energy efficiency projects from Polish homeowners

    The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a PLN 71.2 million (EUR 16 million) guarantee agreement with BNP Paribas Bank Polska to support the financing of energy efficiency projects from Polish homeowners, micro-farmers, and housing associations.

    The guarantee will help BNP Paribas Bank Polska to provide, under the agreement with the EIB, PLN 742 million (EUR 166.7 million) of new financing for energy efficiency projects.

    The banks estimate that around 15.000 clients will benefit from the project.

    The increased use of renewable energy is one of the key objectives of the Polish authorities and the European Union.

    The programme can support the installation of renewable energy sources in individual homes and micro-farms, as well as finance the comprehensive energy refurbishment of multi-home apartment buildings.

    Measures that are eligible for this financing include solar photovoltaic installation for private homeowners and micro-farmers and a wide range of energy efficiency measures for multi-apartment buildings, such as energy efficient windows or facades, heating and ventilation systems, renewable energy sources integrated into the buildings and other measures.

  • New Monoštor bridge connecting Slovakia and Hungary, opened for traffic

    New Monoštor bridge connecting Slovakia and Hungary, opened for traffic

    The new Monoštor bridge connecting Komárom (Hungary) and Komárno (Slovakia) was officially opened for traffic.

    The new road connection, which improves both road transport and inland navigation on the Danube, was supported with €100 million of EU funding through the Connecting Europe Facility (85% of the total costs).

    The new two-lane, 600-metre bridge links the ports of the two Danube cities and removes a crucial bottleneck – the existing Erzsébet Bridge is not suitable for vehicles heavier than 20 tonnes.

    The bridge includes two bicycle lanes.

  • Volvo’s buses batteries to be reused as energy storage units

    Volvo’s buses batteries to be reused as energy storage units

    After the batteries are removed from Volvo’s buses, they are reused as energy storage units for a number of years, for instance in buildings and charging stations.

    This is possible after a new cooperation between Volvo Buses and Stena Recycling subsidiary Batteryloop.

    Bus batteries are used for many years in regular traffic before they need to be replaced. However, when new batteries are fitted to the vehicle, the old ones still have considerable capacity left to offer.

    This capacity is too limited to efficiently propel a bus, but it is more than sufficient for static use for energy storage purposes.

    The new recently signed agreement has a global reach. It covers all the batteries for which Volvo Buses is responsible in its electric buses the world over.

    To date most of these buses are to be found in Europe, but the number of electrified buses is expected to increase in other parts of the world too. 

    Volvo bus batteries are used as energy storage units to provide electricity to one neighbourhood in Gothenburg

    Batteryloop and Volvo Buses have already previously been involved in a joint project with Stena Fastigheter, whereby bus batteries are used as energy storage units to provide electricity to the Fyrklövern residential area in Gothenburg.

    The electricity that is stored in these units comes from solar panels fitted to the apartment buildings’ rooftops.

    The demand for local energy storage units is expected to increase in the future. Not least, an energy storage unit offers new scope for storing renewable energy, which can be used to meet peaks in electricity demand. Any surplus can be sold, delivered straight into the grid. 

  • In Czechia you can travel from door to door without needing to own a car

    In Czechia you can travel from door to door without needing to own a car

    Customers of Skoda DigiLab and rail and coach operator RegioJet in the Czech Republic can travel from door to door with ease without needing to own a car.

    For journeys from their homes to a coach or train station, or from there on to their destination, RegioJet customers can now hire a BeRider eScooter and/or a vehicle from the HoppyGo peer-to-peer car-sharing service.

    How it works

    When purchasing a RegioJet coach or train ticket, customers can register for Skoda DigiLab’s eScooter-sharing service, BeRider.

    Following confirmation, they will be emailed a code which entitles them to use the city scooters free of charge for 60 minutes.

    BeRider has just started its second season in Prague and the number of users is growing: the eScooters have already covered a total of over 500.000 km and, to date, 80.000 people have downloaded the app.

    RegioJet and Skoda DigiLab have then incorporated the HoppyGo private peer-to-peer car-sharing service in a similar way.

    Newly registered HoppyGo users receive a 500-koruna credit for travelling with RegioJet that they can use to rent a car.

    Customers can, for example, make their way to the station using a shared car, park it there in a planned allocated space and continue their journey by coach or train.

  • DigiPlex opens new data center in Lillestrom, Norway

    DigiPlex opens new data center in Lillestrom, Norway

    DigiPlex opened a second data center at Fetsund in Lillestrøm municipality. The new data center is 2.200 sqm.

    DigiPlex now operates six data centers located in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

    The new facility is built to support 3 MW and is engineered for very high levels of service availability. The majority of the site is already reserved for global customers but offers expansion possibilities to house additional customers.

    The new facility in Lillestrøm employs a very energy efficient indirect evaporative cooling system which is similar in function to systems widely deployed by DigiPlex in Sweden and Norway.

    Two new data center under construction

    One more data center is under construction next to the now two operative centers in Lillestrøm and another data center at Holtskogen in Indre Østfold municipality, south east of Oslo.

    Both campuses at Fetsund and Holtskogen have possibilities for further expansion.

    The expansion programme is partly financed through a fully subscribed NOK 655 million bond issue that will be listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange this fall. 

    DigiPlex opened the first data center at Fetsund in Lillestrøm in 2015, a 10 MW center covering 4,200 sqm. At the opening, this data center was the largest data center using air-to-air cooling technology in Europe and currently primarily serves TietoEVRY.

  • EPH sells two heat suppliers from Budapest and Prague to Veolia

    EPH sells two heat suppliers from Budapest and Prague to Veolia

    Czech company EP Infrastructure, part of EPH group, sold its approximately 95.62% share in Budapesti Erőmű Zrt. (BERT) and its 100% share in Pražská teplárenská to Veolia.

    BERT is the largest heat producer in Budapest. The company, owning three gas cogeneration sources (with an output of 1,402 MWt / 396 MWe), is covering 56% of the heat consumption of FÖTÁV Zrt., a municipal district heating network operator owned by the city of Budapest.

    Pražská teplárenská, a.s. operates the largest district heating network in the Czech Republic (550 km, 230,000 households).

    It supplies heat for the right-bank part of Prague and in 2019, its operational profit reached approximately CZK 5 billion and the company employed 411 people.

  • Voi wins Europe’s largest exclusive e-scooter contract in UK

    Voi wins Europe’s largest exclusive e-scooter contract in UK

    Swedish company Voi has been appointed to operate e-scooters in the West Midlands. The trial will create more than 120 new jobs.

    E-scooters will be rolled-out in Birmingham and Coventry from next Thursday (10 September). Soon afterwards, the scooters will be deployed in Sandwell (West Bromwich), Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Warwickshire. 

    The tender process, which was started last month by TfWM, part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), concluded with the contract being offered to Voi as the sole operator.

    For the purpose of the trial the DfT requires a maximum speed of 15.5 mph on roads. In pedestrianised areas a lower speed limit of 5mph will be applicable.

    E-scooters are allowed on any 30 mph or less road, however the council have advised users to use designated cycle routes wherever possible. 

    Voi launched Europe’s first dockless e-scooter service in 2018 and now operates in 45 cities across 11 countries. 

  • EU electricity consumption down by 10.5% in May 2020

    EU electricity consumption down by 10.5% in May 2020

    Eurostat May data show lower electricity consumption in most Member States. The total EU electricity consumption in May 2020 was 10.5% lower than the lowest May value recorded between 2016 and 2019.

    Electricity consumption in May 2020 showed very low levels in a number of countries, in particular in Spain and Poland (both -13.7% compared with May 2019), Slovenia (-13.4%), Croatia (-11.9%), Romania (-11.8%) and Portugal (-11.6%).

    A further nine Member States showed reductions of 5% to 10%, while for six Member States the drop was between 1% and 5%.

    In two Member States (Bulgaria and Latvia) the situation was stable (+/- 1%), while in the remaining four Member States electricity consumption grew.

  • Lime electric scooters are back on Sofia streets

    Lime electric scooters are back on Sofia streets

    Lime electric scooters are returning to Sofia after six months. The mobility company took them off the streets because of the declared state of emergency.

    Unlocking a Lime scooter is cheaper and costs BGN 1.20 and BGN 0.25 for each minute of riding, compared to the previously fee of BGN 1.5, followed by BGN 0.30 for every minute.

    Before the pandemic, Lime had registered more than 150.000 trips and over 30.000 users, who together have traveled over 220.000 km. 

    Unlike Lime, Hobo and Brum’s scooters (which operates under the license of American Bird) did not leave the streets during the coronavirus, notes Capital.bg

  • Beryl to provide a fleet of pedal bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters to Norwich

    Beryl to provide a fleet of pedal bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters to Norwich

    British micromobility provider, Beryl, announced that it will be the provider of a multimodal smart fleet including pedal bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters in Norwich.

    The Department for Transport and Norfolk County Council approved an e-Scooter trial in Norwich, initially with 100 scooters. 

    Beryl e-Scooters will be accessible through the same platform as the company’s pedal and e-Bikes.

    Currently, 94% of Beryl Bike trips in the British operators city-wide scheme in Norwich end in a ”Beryl Bay”, and the remaining 6% of bikes that are free floating are redistributed to bays by Beryl’s on street team via cargo bike.

    The company will update existing parking infrastructure to allow vehicles to be hired and parked in an orderly and secure manner.

  • Call for tender for work on the Fortezza–Ponte Gardena railway section

    Call for tender for work on the Fortezza–Ponte Gardena railway section

    Rete Ferroviaria Italiana published the call for tender for the final design and execution of the section of the line between Fortezza and Ponte Gardena.

    It covers around 22.5 kilometres of new railway line. The line travels through two twin-tube tunnels, Scaleres and Gardena, which are 15.4 and 6.3 kilometres long respectively and are connected by a bridge over the Eisack River.

    The cost of the work, including execution planning, is over 1.15 billion euros, while the total investment is 1.52 billion, financed by the master plan agreed by RFI and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

    The new Fortezza-Ponte Gardena line is the natural continuation of the Brenner Base Tunnel, and adds to the general strengthening of the Verona-Munich axis as part of the TEN-T Scandinavia-Mediterranean European railway freight corridor.

    The section will come into use at the same time as the Brenner Base Tunnel is opened.