Customers testimonies ombrea

Can you tell us about Ombrea and your agrivoltaic business?

Ombrea is based in Aix-en-Provence. It is the international agri-energy expert unit for Total Energies. Our key mission is to ensure that the Company’s energy projects integrate an agricultural dimension. By combining our different areas of expertise, we support farmers and local authorities as they make the transition to energy-efficient farming.

Our experience is largely based on the operation of 10 agrivoltaic demonstrators, which enable us to optimise the sharing of photons between crops and solar panels.

How long have you been using Energysoft and what prompted you to choose this monitoring solution for your agrivoltaic projects?

We’ve been using Energysoft for almost a year. At the outset, we sought a SaaS supervision solution that also incorporated a CMMS module. Several players in the sector recommended Energysoft, and our discussions with S4E’s Sales Director confirmed this approach. As engineers, we particularly appreciate partners who are prepared to ‘show us the insides’ of the machine and explain their technology in detail.

What are the main benefits you’ve seen from using Energysoft to manage your facilities?

One of the main advantages is that it does not require complex software installation and can be used on different workstations without extensive training. Furthermore, it can interface with a wide range of IoT and industrial protocols, making it a flexible solution. We also appreciated the fact that it can be implemented without adding any hardware to the plants, which is a major advantage for us. Its architecture is adaptable to both small and large projects. Finally, the ability to create customised dashboards and distribute information to a wider audience represents a real added advantage.

Is Energysoft’s interface intuitive and adapted to the specific needs of your agrivoltaic business? If so, how?

Yes, the interface is intuitive. It wasn’t specifically designed for the challenges of agrivoltaics at the outset, but that’s precisely what motivated us to work with S4E as we wanted a partner who could offer us a scalable solution that could adapt to our operational needs as we discovered new requirements month after month.

We particularly appreciated the reactivity and availability of Energysoft’s development and training teams. They understood our specific needs and were quick to put forward solutions tailored to our business.

What improvements or new features would you like to see in Energysoft so that it meets the needs of your agrivoltaic activities even better in the future?

We want to be able to ensure that production is in line with our forecasts. We’d like to see improvements in terms of triggering alerts based on real time agricultural activities, to further optimise our day-to-day management of agrivoltaic installations.