Although there is no shortage of political conflicts around energy, the issue of hydraulics is an exception. In France, there is consensus in defending the main and oldest source of renewable electricity in the country (11.9% of national production in 2023). And also, today, declare against the will of the European Commission to put the exploitation of large hydroelectric concessions into competition.
Property of the State, dams with more than 4.5 megawatts of power are mainly exploited by EDF. Well ahead of two Engie subsidiaries, the Compagnie nationale du Rhône and the Société hydroelectric du Midi.
Relaunched in September in the National Assembly, a parliamentary information mission is underway on “the methods of management and exploitation of hydroelectric facilities” to find a solution to the legal conflict that has prevented, for more than a decade, any significant investment. Especially for concessions that have already expired.
The French hydroelectric park requires maintenance for its 25.7 gigawatts (GW) of installed power, including 5 GW of so-called “pumped energy transfer” (STEP) stations. Essential stations for the balance of the electrical system, since they allow hydraulic energy to be stored, unlike wind and solar energy. EDF still plans to develop 2 GW of projects by 2035, including 1.5 GW for STEP.
After more than a decade of parliamentary work, Marie-Noëlle Battistel is beginning to learn about the subject. The socialist deputy from Isère is the rapporteur of the current mission, together with the centrist Philippe Bolo (Maine and Loire) – before the dissolution of the National Assembly on June 9, it had begun in May with Antoine Armand, then deputy (Renaissance) . ) of Haute-Savoie, current Minister of Economy.
“I did not give up the fight”states the author of a previous report on the subject, in 2013. Her document, signed then with the Upper Rhine deputy Eric Straumann (Union for a Popular Movement), already presented hydraulic installations as a “national heritage” They must be preserved, not only for the stability of the electrical system, but also for other uses (drinking water, irrigation of agricultural land, tourism), including to limit flooding.
“An operational solution as quickly as possible”
Following the liberalization of the energy markets, starting in 2005, the Commission asked France, but also Italy and Spain, to “modify its legislation regarding hydroelectric concessions”. Before notifying the country twice, since 2015 by “alleged infringements of European competition rules”invoking a dominant position of EDF, and since 2019 for non-compliance with regulations on hydraulic concessions. “The procedures are still open”explains the institution today.
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