2024-01-12 19:04:53
Produce more green energies and optimize the consumption of those we already have. This is the objective stated by Veolia, a giant in water and waste management, which announced, during a meeting with analysts in London, Thursday January 11, an investment program of 4 billion euros by 2030.
The central axis of this strategy is based on “ local energy reserves still unused », a deposit whose potential he estimates at more than 400 GW in Europe, or 30% of coal and gas imports, or the equivalent of the energy capacities of a country like Italy.
Recovering biogas from landfills and wastewater treatment plants
These are bioenergies, with biomethane from waste landfills or wastewater treatment, photovoltaic panels installed on landfills, heat recovered, for example, in factories or even energy savings. energy in buildings.
« In France alone, biomethane from non-recyclable waste and sewage treatment plants could replace a quarter of Russian gas imports made before the start of the war in Ukraine. It is a local, carbon-free energy, the price of which is completely controlled and which is not intermittent. », Underlines Estelle Brachlianoff, the general director of Veolia.
The group today generates 25% of its turnover in energy, or around 10.5 billion euros, compared to 41% for water and 35% for waste.
By the end of the decade, Veolia wants to increase its bioenergy and renewables production capacity by 50% to bring it to 8 GW. Added to this is an increase by half, to 3 GW, of its capacities in terms of “ flexibility “, that is to say erasure or postponement of consumption, during peaks in demand. “ In these moments, we could produce more or reduce the electricity needs of our customers, through contracts signed with the network manager », Explains Claude Laruelle, the deputy general director, in charge of finances.
In London, garbage trucks will be used to store electricity
The group is not starting from nothing. In Poland, for example, Veolia recovers heat from a Volkswagen factory in Poznan to heat 6,500 homes. In France, the production generated by all its installations is already equivalent to its consumption of gas and electricity. In eastern Paris, 75 GWh of biogas from a non-hazardous waste storage site is injected into the network per year.
In London, a waste incineration plant already supplies neighboring neighborhoods with electricity. But Veolia wants to go further. The electrification of collection trucks will also make it possible to store energy. They will be able to discharge their batteries on the network, when they are parked, during periods of high tension. When the 1,800 garbage bins that the group owns across the Channel are operational, the stored electricity will represent 200 MW of flexibility, or the equivalent of the energy needs of 150,000 homes during peak consumption in the evening.
This is a world first, assures the group. This is also the case at the Barcelona LNG terminal, where it should put in place, by the summer, a process for recovering the energy released by the regasification of liquefied natural gas (LNG) which arrives by boat under liquid form at –161 degrees. It will supply cold to the city’s convention center, the large food market and several tertiary sites.
Building new district heating networks
Number two, today, in district heating networks in Europe, with more than 500 sites, Veolia is aiming for first place by the end of the decade, by developing new installations “ low carbon “. By then, it has also committed to replacing all its coal power plants with biomass or gas by 2030.
The group also focuses on energy efficiency solutions where it aims to move from second to first place in Europe and the Middle East. With the rise in energy prices and the tightening of thermal regulations for buildings, the market is expected to grow, with the rise of energy performance contracts. The operator commits to its customer to reduce energy consumption, with the result of sharing the gains made.
Removing regulatory barriers
« Everywhere there is a strong demand from our customers, industrial or individual, to develop a more circular economy in terms of energy. Each time, these are small consensual projects, carried out on a local scale. », Says Estelle Brachlianoff, believing that it is possible to do much more and faster.
“The obstacles are not financial but regulatory “, she assures, pleading for “ break down the locks”, citing the example of solar panels installed above landfills. In France, it takes a minimum of four years of procedures, while in the United States, it is a maximum of four months.
For the boss of Veolia, it is therefore once again a question of convincing the administrations for greater simplification. A fight reminiscent of that over the reuse of wastewater. It took the drought of 2022 for the file to finally move forward. In 2022, Veolia had three wastewater reuse sites in France. At the end of 2023, it had 55 and is counting on 200 at the end of 2024.
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