Impact des évolutions climatiques sur les activités d’EDF (projet impec)

Climate change impact on the activities of Electricité de France

Electricité De France – Direction Recherche et Développement - 6 quai Watier – 78400 Chatou - France

Auteur de correspondance : frederic.hendrickx@edf.fr

Résumé

Water resource is of prime importance for a producer of electricity like Electricité de France. As a matter of fact, EDF manages about 75 % of the French surface waters through hydro electricity which represents about 13 % of its production. EDF also needs access to water for the cooling of its thermal power plants, especially nuclear power plants which represent between 75 and 80 % of its electric production. Climate change is then studied with much care in order to be able to predict its effects on the future water repartition in time and place. The paper presents the results of studies carried out on the French Loire and Rhone rivers, using different climate models, with the assumption of doubling CO2 in the atmosphere (which could happen during the second half of the century). Future river temperatures and flows have been quantified, showing in particular an increase of river flows in winter, and a rather large decrease in summer. These results will have to be taken into account for the future management of the power plants (some experience has already been drawn after the very hot 2003 summer), especially during dry periods when scarce waters will have to be shared between the various users (drinking water, irrigation, tourism, industries and hydroelectricity).