HV grid connection, industrial projects and owner's representation
BACKGROUND
An engineer from INSA Strasbourg, Xavier Watrelos has led industrial projects for more than twenty years, from feasibility studies to turnkey delivery, in continuous-process industries: glass, food, chemicals and carbochemicals, paper, plastics. He has been an industrial project manager, head of maintenance and new works, including at Saint-Gobain, Lactalis and Euroglas, head of engineering departments and a utilities and energy buyer.
He has led high-voltage (HTB) and medium-voltage (HTA) grid connection projects with RTE and Enedis. Schedule, budget, procurement, team and supplier management, site supervision and commissioning: he knows first-hand what a site that must never stop requires.
SELECTED PROJECTS
Greenfield flat-glass production line (€100m): in charge of delivering the furnace (€15m) and the utilities (€10m), from design validation to commissioning.
Full rebuild of a flat-glass line (€50m), from feasibility to commissioning, with a ten-person project team and the complete operating permit application, which required a public inquiry and sustained communication with local residents.
Preparation of another line rebuild (€83m): feasibility, budget estimate, detailed preliminary design, budget and schedule.
Conversion of a food-processing site closed for four years (€28m): building upgrade, recommissioning of utilities (power, water, compressed air) and a new boiler house.
Capacity increase of a generator plant, and turnkey delivery of an industrial unit in Finland (€15m), run entirely in English.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO A DATA CENTER PROJECT
A data center is an industrial site that never stops. The issues that decide its schedule are the ones Xavier has handled for twenty years: high-voltage connection, critical utilities, permits, commissioning, conversion of existing sites.
Technical and economic feasibility studies comparing candidate sites.
Selecting and overseeing the design team: specification, tender, then monitoring the lead designer (maître d'œuvre) on the developer's behalf.
Following utility connection files: electricity, mains water and wastewater, with the network operators.
Support on permitting files: selecting the consultancy in charge of operating permit applications, discussions with fire and rescue services.
A local relay with town halls and prefectures, key stakeholders for any project in France.
WHO HE WORKS WITH
Developers and investors, including foreign ones, preparing a project in France without a local team; developers converting an industrial site; operators who want an engineer's view of their utilities and schedule.
HOW HE WORKS
Xavier works within the GridReadiness network, which remains your single point of contact, mainly in eastern France and beyond depending on the project. Every assignment is set out in a written proposal. Some can be carried out on a fixed fee; where administrative or industrial complexity is hard to predict, time-based billing is often more suitable.