Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur (NCA), France’s first metropolis, was created on 1 January 2012. It establishes intercommunal links 49 member municipalities, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Alpine border with Italy (large and small towns, villages and ski resorts), helping them to sustain the competition with their European and international counterparts for implementation of development projects and innovative actions. In the area of the Plaine du Var (western part of NCA), the Eco-Vallée project was granted he status of Operation of National Interest by the French State in 2008. It aims at creating a new urban planning model which combines ecology and economy to profoundly modify the economic structure of the metropolis, as well as the modes of transport and housing.
As far as energy is concerned, Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur and its partners have sparked a genuine revolution, enabled by the digital resources in place and set to ensure greater energy independence to an area that currently only produces 10% of the electricity it consumes, foster development of renewable energy sources, and turn users of metropolitan services into “consumactor-producers” taking positive action to reduce their electricity bills and help preserve the environment.