10 years of sunshine

Reuniwatt has been delivering cloud observation and forecasting services to customers worldwide for over 10 years. As such, the SME has a number of employees who have already celebrated their 10-year anniversary in the company. We’re happy to share some of the insights and experiences of Nicolas Sébastien, PhD, CTO of Reuniwatt, who has been working at Reuniwatt for more than a decade.

Tell us a bit about yourself. What made you start working with Reuniwatt?

“Passionate about IT, I completed a computer engineering degree and did my Ph.D. in computer science. With my studies at the crossroads of research, development and innovation, I became head of the regional incubator of La Réunion in 2010. This same year, Nicolas Schmutz joined the incubation program for the acceleration of his startup Reuniwatt. After 2 years at the regional incubator, I wanted to get my hands back in tech activities. Among all the companies in my field of view, I found Reuniwatt was particularly appealing with an environment-oriented vision, a highly complex technology to develop (requiring a lot of IT, but also many other scientific knowledges), and a trustworthy and smart business leader. For his part, Nicolas Schmutz was looking forward internalizing his Research and Development and securing the financial aspects of this R&D. We both agreed quickly on a collaboration and I started working at Reuniwatt in 2012.“

Is the energy meteorology industry different now than when you started 10 years ago?

“The energy meteorology industry has evolved a lot over the last 10 years. And I’m convinced that Reuniwatt is one of the drivers of this evolution. During the first years, renewable energy forecasting was not even included in calls for research projects. We did a lot of scientific communications and met with many governmental agencies to present them the relevance of energy meteorology. We also exchanged a lot with prospects to explain what the technology can and cannot do. Nowadays, the industry is recognized, its services are appreciated by all energy actors. They are even waiting for the arrival of new services to further improve the massive and secure integration of renewable energies.“

How have you seen Reuniwatt change in the time that you’ve worked here?

“From a team of 4 persons in a one-room office to a company of 22 peoples in Reunion-Paris-Toulouse, Reuniwatt surely changed a lot. Nicolas Schmutz took care that the changes were made logically, even if they could be fast-paced. And we had the opportunity to welcome great and talented people in the team with whom interactions went smooth. All the changes have marked the evolution of the company from a startup to an industrial company, excellence-oriented, and leader in its field of activity. I welcomed each development with pleasure and I’m looking forward the next milestones.“

Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on during your time with us?

“In 2016, ADEME funded our R&D project PRESTIGE-PV. This project was as ambitious as its name, as it aimed to create a whole new IT infrastructure to support massive operational forecasts. The goal was to be able to deploy quickly and securely our forecasts on large portfolios of powerplants. During this project, we defined many principles that still relevantly apply to our current operations, thus confirming our vision and the quality of the work we carried out.“

Do you have any favorite memories from your time here thus far?

“Each phase of the company’s development has its anecdotes. For example, we had to slide sandbags under my car which sank into the ground of a photovoltaic plant where we installed R&D instruments. I also had a mission to Vienna which has been extended to New Delhi with a one-day preparation (visa and packing). And I like to think that the Sky InSight™ was born out of one imager we broke, two pieces of wood, a USB camera and a mouse-control software.“

What is your favorite part about your job? What excites you most?

“The team! I have several sources of satisfaction in my work. The first is clearly the team, with passionate, invested and fun collaborators. I also take great pleasure in carrying out my missions and contributing to the success of the company. In particular, financing R&D work is crucial, sometimes stressful, but securing funds is a moment of victory. This R&D work will then be used to transform the company and create new services useful to our customers.“

How would you describe our company culture?

“Even by multiplying the workforce by 5, the corporate culture remained centered on core values: recognition of skills, collaboration, unity, and respect for everyone. With an open and relaxed atmosphere, everyone makes their contribution to team life: sports activities, board games, treats, humor, etc. Many colleagues and interns described our company culture as unique and ideal!“

What do you see as the biggest accomplishments since your start?

“Reuniwatt has reached its position today thanks to the numerous accomplishments of each team, each employee. In this sense, it is difficult to celebrate a particular achievement. Nevertheless, I think that certain technological choices have had an impact on the development of the company. Reuniwatt notably structured an IT team very early on, which created a robust, efficient and cost-controlled infrastructure. This has greatly eased the deployment of forecasting services and the high level of customization we offer to our clients. The design of Sky InSight™ has also opened up a very wide range of applications for us, beyond the energy sector.“

Where do you expect the company to go in the next 10 years?

“Reuniwatt is increasingly solicited for both massive operations and critical missions. We have the skills and know-how to further develop these two areas. Thus, I see us as a key player for critical missions, with 24/7 intervention capabilities, in particular to secure optical space communications. Reuniwatt will always be the reference for “excellence in forecasting”.“

If you are a meteorologist or engineer working in a related field, and if you interested in our company and open positions, you can follow us on LinkedIn, or contact us directly.