The Principality now has a new, easily identifiable way to locate electric vehicle recharging stations, introducing bright yellow ‘Monaco On’ recharging points that are also faster and more powerful.
Due to higher demand, the government of Monaco is gradually replacing randomly-placed self-service outlets with electric vehicle service stations in public car parks and on the road, grouping together several terminals as a way to make them more readily recognisable to users.
The new outlets will be faster and more powerful, in response to the latest breed of electric and hybrid vehicle’s needs. They have always been free to use, only now, they will be more clearly recognisable and efficient.
The Casino, Grimaldi Forum and Portier car parks are already equipped and the Fontvieille Shopping Centre is next on the list. A total of 91 fast charging stations are installed or in the process of being installed. 71 of them are 7kva stations and 20 are 22kva stations. On the road, nine sites are on offer. There are 11 fast charging stations, seven semi-fast charging stations and four slow charging stations currently online.
There will be more stations rolling out in the next few weeks and they will mostly be found in high-traffic areas such as shopping areas or attractions. To coordinate and unify, the on-street terminals will soon be dressed in yellow like those in the car parks, making them amply visible to motorists.
“Ecological vehicles should be favoured in an urban space such as ours. It is in this perspective that the government is now developing an ever larger and more efficient network of charging stations, which are gradually being revamped in order to be noticed more easily, thanks to the Monaco On brand,” said Minister of Equipment, Environment and Town Planning Marie-Pierre Gramaglia.
It marks the next step in the government’s ongoing policy to support the use of electromobility in the Principality. Policies to this effect have been in place since 1994 and include such benefits as reductions in prices of annual public parking subscriptions, free street parking and no annual registration fees. There are almost 1,000 free charging points around the city, and no resident is more than 300 metres from one of these stations.
Prince Albert has set an example in Monaco and taken part in World Clean Up Day with his children Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella.
On Saturday 19th September, Monaco held its second edition of World Clean Up Day in the streets of the Principality.
The waste collection and public awareness event was organised at the initiative of Sébastien Uscher and the Stand Up for the Planet association, in partnership with the Mairie de Monaco, Decathlon Monaco, the Mission for the Energy Transition of the Princely Government, the Monegasque Sanitation Society and the Eco-Angels (Stars n’Bars).
Around a hundred people took part in four cleaning projects that were carried out in the Principality and surrounding municipalities, which yielded 210 kilogrammes of waste.
The streets surrounding Port Hercule will be closed to all motorised traffic this weekend, giving people in Monaco an opportunity to enjoy ‘Sunday by Bike’.
The Port District of Monaco will be completely closed to cars, buses and other motorised vehicles on Sunday 20th September from 10am to 6pm for a ‘Sunday by Bike’ event being held in honour of European Mobility Week.
The event, organised by the Department of the Environment, aims to promote the use of non-motorised mobility to “re-appropriate” this territory usually occupied by cars. They are encouraging people to come by foot, bicycle, scooter, skateboard, roller skates or any other non-motorised type of transport.
Activities have been set up on the Quay Albert Ier, opposite Rue Princesse Caroline, and include an opportunity to test a bike or electric scooter and a witness a demonstration on how Monabike works.
To ensure everyone’s safety, helmets for under 18s are required whilst riding a scooter or bicycle.
Certain traffic lanes will be closed including Boulevard Albert 1er, part of Avenue JF Kennedy and Route de la Piscine.
Strict compliance with the current health regulations will be enforced and barrier gestures will be in place. Masks are compulsory for all participants who are not involved in a sports activity and hydroalcoholic gel will be available at locations around the venue.
The Cabinet of President Stéphane Valeri is now composed of a completely female team for the first time in National Council history.
Earlier this month, the National Council underwent several internal promotions. Sébastien Siccardi, former member of the president’s Cabinet, was given the duty of Secretary General of the Assembly, following the appointment of Philippe Mouly as Secretary General of the Judicial Services Department.
Stepping into his position as Legal Affairs Officer in the Cabinet is Camille Quilico-Borgia, former Head of Division at the National Council.
The restructure means that, for the first time in National Council history, the Cabinet is now an exclusively female team.
Virginie Cotta is Chief of Staff, while Elodie Kheng is in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Maryse Battaglia takes care of Social Affairs, Karine Marquet is in charge of International Affairs and Camille Quilico-Borgia steps in for Legal Affairs.
The various appointments took effect on 1st September 2020.
Prince: Digital is the turning point in Monaco’s history
It’s been a big month for Orbital Solutions Monaco. Just weeks after successfully launching their nano-satellite into space, Prince Albert II invited the team to join him at the Palace.
Monaco start-up Orbital Solutions Monaco (OSM), attended a meet-up with Prince Albert II at the Palace last week where managers and employees presented the Sovereign with a commemorative photo of the Principality’s first nano-satellite.
OSM, headed up by Francesco Bongiovanni out of offices in Fontvieille, only has a handful of workers but the highly skilled team has managed to build a reliable nano-satellite that is currently flying over the Earth at an altitude of 530 kilometres.
“The miniaturisation of high technologies offers small states and private companies the possibility to become full-fledged actors in the space field once reserved only for big nations,” noted the Palace in a statement.
A chance to enter this new chapter of the “Space Race” is appealing for Monaco as it is for other smaller nations such as Luxembourg, Singapore and New Zealand, who are building rockets, intelligence and research-gathering satellites or projects for future mining and explorations of the moon, asteroids and even Mars.
The satellite weighs in at a tiny 10 kilos and can do an entire revolution of the planet in just 90 minutes and a speed of 28,000 km/h. Despite zipping by, it collects and transmits climactic and atmospheric data in what is considered by scientists to be a “low orbit”.
After several delays due to a variety of circumstances such as the health crisis and bad weather, the satellite was finally launched earlier this month from a launch site in Guyana.
The company is not resting on their laurels, though. They are already working on other satellite projects and intend to build one with the assistance of local secondary school students.
