nuclear-news

France’s top-down energy system makes it hard to switch to renewables

Some 95 percent of the territory’s electricity supply network is now managed by ERDF, a fully-owned branch of former state monopoly EDF.

“The French grid is a top-down network, conceived for a centralised production. It has to be restructured so power can flow in both directions. Today the grid is only used to distribute power from nuclear plants,”

France needs more local power for green energy shift PlanetArk 15-Nov-12 FRANCE Marion Douet Centralised France may lack the clout at local government level to ease its new shift to greener energy, contrasting with the regional and grass-roots power that helped push through the rise of renewables in Germany.

France, the world’s most nuclear reliant country, has vowed to cut its
dependency on the atom and boost its lagging renewable energy output.

A failure to empower local authorities on energy issues in the next
few years could put a brake on its ambition to cut the share of
nuclear power in the electricity mix to 50 percent by 2025, down from
75 percent now, green energy experts and local players say.

Across the Rhine, the installed capacity for wind and solar
electricity production is already equivalent to France’s 58 nuclear
reactors, even though the output is highly variable.

“In France, we have a centralised state and centralised energy
production, so everything goes in the same top down direction,
countering action from local communities wanting to develop their own
projects,” said Melanie Persem, head of the Franco-German office for
renewable energy coordination.

“Whereas in Germany, towns and citizens are the force behind renewable
energies.” Germany’s cities and federal states have taken the
initiative in launching ambitious renewable energy projects, and
German individuals own about 40 percent of renewable projects, in
which they invest, Persem said.

“It’s like if you put your money in the bank or in an investment
fund,” she said.

This local dynamism makes Germany’s federal government decision to
phase out nuclear power over the next 10 years more feasible, with
renewable energy making up about a quarter of German electricity
demand already.

In France however, green energy accounts for 12 percent of power
needs, with solar and wind providing only 3 percent and the rest
coming from hydropower. However, advocates of the French centralised
system say this means distribution costs in France are cheaper than in
Germany.

The country’s fragmented administrative organization, with such a high
number of layers it is nicknamed a “mille-feuille” – the name of a
sweet cream slice made of layer upon layer of paper-thin puff pastry,
is not helping.

Its 22 regions, subdivided into 96 departments and 35,303 communes are
mainly dependent on Paris for their income and only have limited
investment capacities.

Nicolas Garnier from Amorce, a group of French local communities
advising on energy and waste issues argues that President Francois
Hollande’s national debate on the transition towards a more energy
responsible society should focus on who decides on energy matters
rather than on energy types.

“If we remain stuck in a national approach, here’s the story for the
next 35 years: we will reduce nuclear energy a bit, increase wind
power by a smidgeon, struggle to contain consumption, but we won’t
succeed,” he said.

POWER GRID MONOPOLY

An example of the traditional, top-down approach to energy policy can
also be seen in the way France’s electricity grid was built. We were
just after the war and the goal was to bring electricity to the whole
of France. This contract was fulfilled very well, but today local
authorities are forced to renew their contract with ERDF
indefinitely,” said Yannick Regnier of the CLER green lobby.

Some 95 percent of the territory’s electricity supply network is now managed by ERDF, a fully-owned branch of former state monopoly EDF.
“The French grid is a top-down network, conceived for a centralised production. It has to be restructured so power can flow in both directions. Today the grid is only used to distribute power from nuclear plants,” Garnier from Amorce said.

While big wind and solar power plants are directly connected to the
high-voltage transport grid, smaller production facilities are wired
to one-way local distribution networks, meaning the electricity has to
be consumed locally.

“ERDF’s monopoly on distribution is a big handicap. The only
concessionaire possible raises money from us and at the same time
doesn’t justify in what name it levies these amounts, tens of millions
of euros per year,” said Green MP Denis Baupin.

A few exceptions with more local government control exist in France,
such as the town of Grenoble in the Alps, which are also
coincidentally at the cutting-edge of green energy use. By contrast,
Germany has some 900 distribution networks agencies, Persem of the
Berlin-based Franco-German renewable office said…..
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/67132

November 16, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ENERGY, France