Dearly beloved, dearly beloved,
As they do every year, in 2019 Yverdon Energies and its allies: Sagenord and our brigade of consultants, were active in many areas, from maintaining our networks and infrastructures to developing our commercial activities and stubbornly pursuing the sustainable development objectives assigned to us by the city, while ensuring a profit equivalent to several tax points. All the employees in our department have contributed, where they are, to successfully fulfilling the many missions entrusted to us, even if the year has not always been easy and we have had our share of problems. In a context that was always difficult, the work of Yverdon Energies employees was exemplary - as it is every year. May they all be warmly thanked, each and every one of them, on my own behalf and on behalf of the City of Yverdon-les-Bains.
However, if there was one highlight of the past year, it was the development of district heating (CAD). 2019 saw major achievements in this area, with the installation, almost exclusively in this year, of the entire CAD-STEP network, from the sewage treatment plant to the extension of the fire station. This network is now in operation, and while we have already been active in this field since 2015 and the CAD-LOTUS installation in the hospital and bath sector, this is the first time we have operated a district heating system whose energy base is overwhelmingly renewable, by reusing the heat generated by the reprocessing of waste water. Eventually, this installation will cover all the heating needs of the Gare-Lac district, from the Marive to the Boxer brewery: thousands of tons of greenhouse gases will thus be saved each year.
And the adventure will continue in 2020 with the creation of the limited company Y-CAD SA, which will take over all of our CAD networks and allow the continuation of the program: At this very moment, we are laying, in collaboration with our colleagues in the works department, the backbone of the future CAD-Santal network, along the main axis of the conurbation under construction - in the long term, there too, thousands of households in Yverdon will see their heating switch from a fossil source (oil and gas) to a renewable source of heat: wood from our forests.
These major projects require major investments: ultimately, tens of millions of francs, to enable the City to meet its commitments to the environment and the climate while providing safe and affordable heat to a significant proportion of its customers. In this area, as in all others, a big year 2020 is on the horizon. May it be good for all of you!
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year 2020,
Pierre Dessemontet
Municipal in charge of energy