France could produce 20% more hydroelectricity, according to operators

by time news

The hydroelectric park is the mainstay of French electricity production before the development of civil nuclear power from the 1970s. Unclesam / stock.adobe.com

Hydroelectric power stations provide 12% of electricity production in France and the sector has good development potential.

Hydroelectric power stations provide 12% of electricity production in France and although old, the sector still has development potential which would make it possible to produce “20% more, mainly with new works“, estimated Thursday France Hydro Electricity.

On average, these installations produce 60 terawatt hours (TWh) per year, i.e. the electricity consumption of 27 million French people, recalled the professional union which federates the operators of 720 structures. These structures can be power stations that turbine over the course of the water (a torrent, a river, etc.), or dams that store water with power stations that turbine on demand to produce electricity.

A 5% development of hydroelectricity

«The development potential is 12 TWh, this represents 20% more, mainly with the development of new works“, said during a press conference the president of France Hydro Electricity Xavier Casiot. He did not say the amount of investment that this would represent, variable from one project to another and depending on the river, the power and the environmental constraints.

By 2028, France has planned a 5% development of hydroelectricity, ie 3 to 4 Twh more. A new multiannual energy programming law (PPE) is in preparation. Gaz Électricité de Grenoble (GEG) thus has seven new installations on mountain torrents, the commissioning of which is approaching: “Thea smallest of 2 GW, equivalent to the consumption of 1000 inhabitants and the largest of 12 GW in Peisey-Nancroix in the Tarentaise valley» and who will start producing «at best for 2025“, according to Nicolas Fléchon, director of renewable energy production at GEG.

“An extremely valuable tool to ensure the balance of the network”

The hydroelectric fleet, the mainstay of French electricity production before the development of civil nuclear power from the 1970s, is “an extremely valuable tool to ensure the balance of the network“, recalled Xavier Casiot. Its development “would make it possible to avoid the use of fossil fuels, coal and gas, which France still uses during peak consumption, assures France Hydro Electricity. France, however, lacks Step or “pumped energy transfer stations».

These plants, currently only six in number, are capable of pumping water from a lower basin to an upper basin. If they use excess solar or wind power to pump that water, that amounts to “storing” that excess energy. It is a solution seen to support the development of solar and wind power and to overcome the phenomenon of intermittency of these renewable energies. “We have possibilities that go beyond the needs» in terms of Steps, underlined Xavier Casiot, while a consultation is engaged with the public authorities that the construction of Steps benefits from aid.

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