Actualité et avenir de la production hydraulique

Hydropower generation question of the moment and the future.

Electricité De France, UP ALPES, 4 avenue Doyen Louis Weil, 38024 GRENOBLE CEDEX 1

Auteur de correspondance : jean-yves.delacoux@edf.fr

Abstract

The share of electricity produced by hydroelectric plants has been reduced in France from almost 80 % in 1960 to 15 % today. Hydroelectric generation is facing two issues : ageing equipment, easity controlled at least from a technical point of view, and society's changing expectations concerning other uses of water. And those expectations induce an intense evolution of the legal situation. In addition, rising taxes undermine financial stability. But at the same time, the emerging concept of sustainable development is an opportunity for this renewable energy which has already proved its technical and economical effectiveness. A new future is opening for hydroelectricity : small plants possibly integrated in developments having multiple goals, and state-of-the-art power stations built to compensate for the large variability in energy demand.