Vivian Bouzali (Mytilineos): What is the Smart Cities program?

The MYTILINEOS Smart Cities project was presented by the General Manager of Communication & Marketing Strategy of the company, Vivian Bouzali, speaking at the 7th Delphi Economic Forum.

He spoke about a new pioneering service and spoke about the inexhaustible possibilities it can offer in Greece and abroad, making the beginning of the White Houses at Distomou Beach, the “home” of the employees of the historic Aluminum factory of Greece in the Metallurgy Sector.

In detail, Ms. Bouzali stated:

“Today the mystery will be solved and I will reveal to you what the MYTILINEOS Smart Cities project is, and what we are preparing for the smart cities.
For the smart cities we envision with new and innovative tools and services.

For the modern citizen, for the society of the future, for the energy transition to a friendlier and greener reality.
So MYTILINEOS Smart Cities. Services, applications, products aimed at cities, communities, settlements, and even large organizations that seek to create sustainable, smart societies, with the daily lives of citizens and residents easier.
At the same time, for cities, communities and settlements that want to reduce their environmental footprint, utilizing the best of technology.
With the quality guarantee of MYTILINEOS and for the first time with the cooperation of almost all Sectors of Entrepreneurship: Metallurgy, Electricity & Natural Gas and Sustainable Development Projects.
What is a smart city? A city that lives and breathes through its people, but is technologically upgraded. It interacts at all levels, provides solutions, offers opportunities, reduces costs, respects the environment, but above all it remains human.
This is the vision of MYTILINEOS and this is the idea behind Smart Cities.
The goal is to highlight the community and the person and their potential. The consumer now becomes a producer and controls his consumption. He knows what he is paying for, he is aware of the financial and environmental costs and chooses the most suitable option for him, with minimal to zero impact on the environment. With the use of digital technologies, better use of resources is made, while at the same time direct and indirect emissions are minimized. The existing structures and facilities are upgraded and interact substantially with the needs of the citizens, safely and reliably.

What will a smart city include in the first place?
Flexible energy management services,
smart water management,
intelligent waste management,
high functionality in the public space – from the simplest, such as charging points and Internet access via 5 G / wi fi, to the installation of an audio system for direct communication of the citizen with public services, weather information, access to lighting facilities .

Traffic management through smart traffic applications
Utilization of capabilities for 5G

And all this, from central control systems that will provide immediate information, so that immediate issues can be resolved
This is for the community, but what happens in our home?
Installation and management of smart devices in homes such as meters, batteries, inverters, PV panels, but also
Installation of electric vehicle quick chargers
And all this information, we can control and manage it even remotely, from our mobile
And all this through flexible applications and artificial intelligence technologies that MYTILINEOS has already created and continues to develop.
Concepts and services such as: Blockchain, Smart Lightning, Connected public transport, Smart Parking, Public safety, Smart roads / Connected streetlights / Smart Traffic monitoring and management, Citizen / Tourist services, come into our lives to make it easier.

I give you only a picture of the services that smart cities will offer, because the possibilities are really inexhaustible.
No it’s not a futuristic presentation. The future is already here!

We start from the White Houses of Distomo beach

Our first project will be nearby, at the White Houses.
In this model community of Aluminum of Greece, we will create the first pilot smart city.
I remind you that Aspra Spitia is a model settlement on Distomou Beach that was built exclusively to offer a home to the employees of Aluminum of Greece in the 60’s. It was the vision of the great Greek architect and urban planner Apostolos Doxiadis and over the years it has been praised for its special road construction and the enviable standard of living it offers to its inhabitants. Today, MYTILINEOS maintains the unique physiognomy of the settlement that comes to life from the generations of workers in the historic factory of the Metallurgy Department of the company.

Applying innovative technological solutions, we aim at the real and essential of the living standard of the inhabitants of the settlement. At the same time, we will educate the residents on the new possibilities and services that will be provided.

Through all these services, the environmental and energy sensitivity of all of us increases. From the citizen to the community. We bring the residents closer, listening to their needs. In fact, we enable them to become partners in the new and renewed energy market.

Specifically, we are developing a first range of applications and services, which include water management, energy management, smart poles that will be able to provide information via wifi, as well as the citizen information platform, which is the first base.

The comparative advantage that MYTILINEOS has is that its Areas of Activity enable the development of services, products or applications that we have first utilized for us. A typical example is the new CCGT of electricity generation that is already in operation at the energy center of Agios Nikolaos and was created by the Department of Sustainable Development Projects for the Electricity and Gas Sector and we are now building around the world, as we recently undertook in England.
These will be the citizens of the future. They will live in smart cities with unlimited possibilities.

MYTILINEOS transforms METKA into a Sustainable Development Project Sector

We are proud of MYTILINEOS that we are a pioneer once again and we are proud that through this new service we promote the principles of sustainability. Words lose their meaning when they are not accompanied by actions and especially today – in the unprecedented circumstances we live in – we must intensify our efforts for a future that is truly sustainable for all.

We invested in MYTILINEOS from a very early age. Essentially, we transformed the whole company, so that the principles of sustainable development are at the center of its strategy.
Not only as a theory but also as a business.
Many were surprised when we changed the traditional name of METKA to Sustainable Development Project, but we were justified by the result.
The company, in addition to traditional infrastructure projects, now targets projects that promote sustainability: energy upgrade projects, smart grids, smart street lighting, hybrid projects and more.

That is, projects that have at their core the upgrading of community life and the minimization of our environmental footprint.
Besides, our country in the near future must be ready to implement the large investment program of RRF, which creates huge opportunities for our country and great opportunities for companies and Greek society.

MYTILINEOS has prepared, transformed and used its experience for the next day. This is also recognized by the partners who choose us especially abroad.

Smart and Sustainable – the only way for the planet and companies to survive

At MYTILINEOS we proceeded to something even bolder, but necessary for us. First in Greece, but also among the first in Europe, we have made ambitious commitments to reduce emissions by 30% for all our business by 2030 and in a carbon-neutral footprint by 2050. From today, Sustainable Development is and must be to become everyone’s priority.

We thus develop a specialized plan for emission reduction initiatives separately for each Business Sector, focusing on:
(1) To achieve a zero emission footprint in the Sectors of Sustainable Development Projects and Development of Renewable Sources & Energy Storage Projects, by 2030
(2) To become a global benchmark for Green Metallurgy through its commitment to reduce the total emissions of the Metallurgy Sector by 65% ​​and respectively the specific emissions, per ton of aluminum produced, by 7530 by 2030
(3) To be the catalyst for a Greek market of low emission electricity, through the Electricity & Natural Gas Sector, with a reduction of specific emissions per MWh produced, up to 50% by 2030.

You know, investors now have a completely different approach to how and where they invest their money. If you produce aluminum that is not green, you are not selected – not even your customers, which is why we have invested so much in green aluminum.

If you have not made radical changes, you have not transformed the company in the direction of ESG, you do not participate in international ratings and forums, you are not transparent, you are no longer invisible.
MYTILINEOS is evaluated in terms of its performance by large organizations such as Sustainalitics, S&P Global, Bloomberg, CDP, ISS ESG, Refinitiv etc and scores high.

Of course, this gives it other possibilities in terms of financing lines, such as green bonds with very low interest rates, and a series of financial tools that allow us to grow as a company, but also to contribute to the development of the country.

We see sustainability as a responsibility, but also as a creative challenge. As the President and CEO Evangelos Mytilineos himself pointed out, our ambitious goals are reflected 100% in our DNA, it is a strategic pillar, a criterion for decision making and a guide for our every business operation. Only by setting bold and high sustainability goals, starting with us industries, can we ensure the creation of long-term value for the benefit of all and a collective sustainable future for future generations.

We conduct our activities in such a way that reflects the needs of both society and the people who trust us (shareholders, investors, stakeholders). We do not follow the trend, we form constants. We show the way for the healthy entrepreneurship of the future “.