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By ARTHUR NAZARET
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—Roland Lescure wants to send CO2 six feet underground.
—The last waves of the sea debate.
—Emmanuel Macron, the transition and the “investment wall”.
Hello everyone, it is April 26. Many of you have read our list of 31 personalities who rely on energy and climate. And a few to send us comments…
From bosses… to employees. A reader tells us that a trio of important CEOs are missing: Marianne Laigneau at Enedis, Laurence Poirier-Dietz at GRDF and Thierry Trouvé at GRTgaz. Another pointed out to us that we could have added employee representatives, like Gwénaël Plagne, who chairs the central CSE of EDF or Sébastien Menesplier, general secretary of the FNME-CGT. Who knows, maybe they will be in the rankings next year!
“There are more than 30 personalities who contribute to the debates on energy in France. And there are without a doubt 68 million of us in power and participating,” concludes Antoine Armand (Renaissance), first deputy in our ranking.
WHO WANTS TO STORE MILLIONS? The Minister of Industry and Energy, Roland Lescure, took advantage of a trip today to Technip, in Yonne, to launch an appeal to companies interested in burying CO2. “This announcement marks the launch of carbon storage in France: we are moving from words to action and support,” explains his office.
The call for expressions of interest today will be followed by a call for projects “at the end of July”, according to an advisor to the minister, with the objective of starting and supporting “four to five test projects” at the beginning of 2025. An envelope of 20 to 30 million euros is planned, report Les Echos.
The CCUS, for “carbon capture, use and storage”, aims to trap CO2 at the factory outlet, transport it by pipeline or boat, then bury it or use it to manufacture, for example, synthetic fuels. Technologies that are still unproven or controversial, because they capture carbon without eliminating it.
Carbon trap. The executive hopes to sequester 4 to 8.5 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030, or up to 10% of industrial emissions, whether in France or abroad. Figures which will be specified in the national strategy planned “by the summer”, according to the minister’s office.
Multiple storage capacities are already identified in France, in former oil and gas deposits: around 600 million tonnes of CO2 in the Pyrenean foothills, around 200 million in the Aquitaine basin and around 65 million for the Paris basin. Teréga is working on a landfill project in the Lacq basin. The Geological and Mining Research Bureau publishes a map of possible sites “during June”.
Retraining. The simplification bill also intends to facilitate the transformation of hydrocarbon wells into CO2 storage, as you pointed out in your newsletter two weeks ago.nes.
Northern Lights SEES THE LIGHT. The European Commission approved on Wednesday the joint venture between TotalEnergies, Shell and Equinor. The three companies are developing the Northern Lights project and want, as of this year, to transport and store 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year in the depths of the North Sea, off the coast of Norway. France signed a partnership with this country in January.
At 11:30 a.m., Roland Lescure’s trip to Technip, in Yonne, to launch a call to companies interested in burying CO2.
At the end of the day, end of public debate on maritime facades
Assembly and Senate : Last day of parliamentary vacation, Monday is back!
THE WIND WILL PREVAIL. The debate on the sea organized by the National Commission for Public Debate ends today. It should enable maritime planning, in particular by updating the mapping of offshore wind power, while around fifty parks must be deployed by 2050. The website houses 139 contributions. Your newsletter caught a few of them.
Wind at the back. Several major players in offshore wind power such as EDF, Vattenfall or Iberdrola require visibility above all. Both spatial and temporal (by 2035, or even 2050).
Offshore wind power installed “has proven its competitiveness”, argues Vattenfall: the last two calls for tenders were awarded with a price around 44 euros per megawatt hour. “As part of the agreement between the State and EDF on the organization of the post-Arenh market, EDF is considering a target price for electricity at 70 euros per megawatt hour,” recalls, for comparison, the Swedish electrician.
Something fishy. The CNPMEM, which represents fishing professionals, wants to push the parks beyond 12 nautical miles, determined that it is “clearly no longer possible nor responsible to admit the planning of new zones” before, where already find multiple maritime activities.
A shared analysis by the National Association of Coastal Elected Officials which calls for “better study” of floating wind power, which can be installed further from the coast. Reversely, EDF Renewables argues that “fishing is possible in the Saint-Nazaire (wind) park”.
Carp and rabbit. Fishermen and ecologists, same fight? France Nature Environnement calls for excluding any development of offshore wind power from marine areas protected. The Sea Shepherd association wonders for its part “what is the point of sacrificing marine life under the pretext of fighting climate change”, adding that wind power at sea worries scientists.
BLUE HORIZON ASSEMBLY. Renaissance MP Sophie Panonacle tabled, on April 11, a bill for the Interministerial Committee for the Sea (Cimer) to produce an annual report which could be the subject of a debate before parliament. The MP, who focused on the application of the law on the blue economy, and leads a group of 46 deputies from the Major on maritime issues, assures that her law will be voted on but will await its registration in the order . of the day.
The idea is sure to discuss the decarbonization of the maritime sector, the development of wind turbines as Cimer is already doing but above all to “blue the Assembly”, says Sophie Panonacle who notes in the hemicycle as in France a lack of culture on this subject .
MACRON IS LOOKING FOR GREENBACKS. The President of the Republic still took some of the 109 minutes of his speech on Europe to talk (a little) about energy. If Emmanuel Macron this time refrained from calling for a “pause” in the pursuit of the European Green Deal, he pleaded for “flexibilities of application in each country and especially the investment policy that goes with it”.
Take down the wall. Certainly making use of his background as a financier, the head of state focused above all on finding the funds to break down the “investment wall” of the green transition. Small anthology of the presidential ideas of the day (which, according to him, are often those of the Europe of tomorrow):
— Extend the European carbon tax.
— Climate objectives for the European Central Bank.
— Introduce a European preference in strategic industries, including new energies.
— Regulate less and invest more.
— Create a new “prosperity pact” by combining decarbonization and reindustrialization.
— Build an “atomic Europe” with an expanded role for the Nuclear Alliance.
— Display the carbon footprint of imported agricultural products.
NOT-HAPPY BIRTHDAY. 38 years ago, one of the reactors at the Ukrainian Chernobyl power plant exploded in the middle of the night. The Getting Out of Nuclear network is organizing several events in different regions to commemorate the anniversary of one of the worst nuclear accidents in the history of the atom.
“Nuclear is always dangerous and likely to cause accidents,” recalls Marion Rivet, spokesperson for the anti-nuclear NGO, joined by my colleague Nicolas Camut. She denounces an “extension of the French nuclear fleet” “to the detriment of safety”, all the more so after the recently decided merger between the Nuclear Safety Authority and the Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, to which the association was opposed.
From clouds to boos. For opponents of the atom, the fallout from Chernobyl did not stop at the French borders, they even reassured the detractors of nuclear power. in the 1980s, within civil society as well as certain political groups, such as the Greens. Forty years later, despite the relaunch of the atom, they are still moving.
Lots of demonstrations. A “visual” action will take place this afternoon in front of EDF’s regional headquarters in Lyon, to warn of the risks associated with the construction of new EPRs in neighboring Bugey, and the extension of existing reactors. Other rallies are planned in several cities in France today, before a larger demonstration in Bordeaux and a rally in front of the Cattenom power plant in Lorraine tomorrow.
— A 480 million euro battery mineral factory project is coming to Gironde, a project that is already very specific and yet unexpected, underlines La Tribune.
— Framatome signs contracts worth several billion euros: “excellent news for Grand Chalon!” we read on the France 3 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté website.
—In Savoie, road damage caused by climate change is becoming more and more expensive, warns Le Monde
A big thank you to our editor Alexandre Léchenet.
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