France will focus on nuclear and renewables, this is Macron’s plan
Not only nuclear, what the French president Macron has announced: numbers, objectives and somersaults (compared to the Minister Macron…). The article by Andrea Mainardi
Exactly two months before the first round of the presidential elections on 10 April, the (not yet officially) candidate Emmanuel Macron ignites his electoral campaign in Belfort. It does so by going to the heart of crucial issues: resumption of nuclear power (which also means impetus to reindustrialization in trouble), relaunching energy independence, obviously carbon free, and fighting the energy crisis that puts a strain on purchasing power. A menu of measures that challenges opponents.
Redemption after original sin. How President Macron "disowns" Minister Macron
It is in the shadow of the huge Arabelle turbines, colossal steel structures 70 meters long that the president celebrates the liturgy. In two acts. First the repair one. Edf (state-controlled) formalized in the morning an exclusive agreement for the purchase of part of the nuclear activity of GE Steam Power, including the famous steam turbines, which are built here but which in 2015 – Macron Minister of Economy – ended up at the American General Electrics. Then, in the afternoon, the second act, with the impetus on France's energy policy "for decades to come".
Belfort's choice is therefore not neutral. Macron makes a very political speech, very much an election campaign one. To repair an original sin in terms of energy policy, he analyzed Le Monde .
In 2017, candidate Macron had insisted on his commitment to reduce nuclear power to 50% of electricity production. Five years later the outgoing president, not yet officially a candidate for re-election, has changed his attitude. His speech can be seen as a signal to reassure the French that the cost of energy will not depend on imports, whose rising prices are heavily contributing to a burden on purchasing power, another main theme of the 2022 presidential elections. the same one that had recorded the sale of Alstom's energy branch (and therefore of the Arabelle turbines highly strategic for the sovereignty of France) which will also welcome their return to the Edf fold. Arabelle is the most powerful and reliable turbine on the market to transform the steam released by the water brought to boiling by the fission of atoms in nuclear power plants into electricity. It equips a third of the world's power plants, including EPRs.
The justification for Arabelle
Entering the factories justifies himself with the workers, in particular for the controversial choice to sell the former energy branch of Alstom to GE in 2015, when it was in Bercy: "The choice that was made [by Alstom] was to leave on the energy side to consolidate its transport sector. It was then that General Electric took over. I don't know if other industrial choices would have been more intelligent, but I do know that this allowed Alstom Transports to resist, then to buy Bombardier to make it an international champion ”.
The state took its time to redeem this important slice of national sovereignty. The jewel is back in Edf's vault (as revealed by Challenges in mid-January) for just over a billion euros.
Macron, the nuclear tactical penguin and 14 new reactors
The conversion on the way to the atom, Macron details it as follows: the existing reactors (56 with a dozen downtime for maintenance to date) will see their life cycle extended beyond 50 years, if safety is guaranteed. Highlight: Macron wants the construction of six new Epr2 and the study of the start of construction of another eight by 2050 (RTE, the electricity transmission network, recommended a minimum of eight reactors and a maximum of fourteen). Macron does not say where they will arise. He explains: “In concrete terms, in the coming weeks we will start the preparatory projects: finalization of the design studies, referral to the national commission for public debate, definition of the locations”. More precise on the times. He announces "wide public consultation in the second quarter of 2022" on the subject of energy, and the start of works in 2028 for the commissioning of the first reactor "by 2035".
The EPR 2 is a project for an "optimized" version of the EPR reactor, which is simpler and cheaper to build than the EPR reactor. Compared to the only EPR under construction in France in Flamanville, which has accumulated biblical delays and reckless additional costs, the EPR 2 – writes Le Monde – should be simpler to build, benefiting from a series effect (construction in pairs) and prefabrication. It is also the first reactor to be fully digitally designed, with 4D simulation and 3D visualization to better detect anomalies. The Court of Auditors underlined the “great” financial challenge that this program represents, with a construction cost of three pairs of EPR 2 estimated at 46 billion euros. Will Edf be able to build a new fleet of reactors in a reasonable time and at a reasonable cost?
Green nuclear power. Brussels also says so
Almost half a century after the announcement of the Messmer plan, which led to the construction of the nuclear fleet that is still operational today, France is therefore reconnecting with the atom. Director, the tenant of the outgoing Elysée, with a varied and long-term energy project. The goal, he says, is "to make France the first great country in the world in thirty years to get out of dependence on fossil fuels and strengthen our energy and industrial independence in climate exemplarity". Earlier this month he had managed to convince Brussels to include nuclear power, in addition to gas, in its delegated act which establishes which energy sources are 'sustainable' and therefore financeable with 'green taxonomy' investments. An ok by the European Commission experienced with suffering by Germany in particular.
That was the preamble to the Paris nuclear plan. Which already thanks to the atom produces 70% of the electricity needs.
How do I see the electric future for you
The plan is in two interlinked phases. Macron details: “The first big project is to consume less energy”. The challenge: to reduce energy consumption by 40% in 30 years. But no decreases. It warns: "We must achieve this without practicing energy austerity."
The second project is to produce more carbon free electricity: the exit from oil and gas within 30 years implies the replacement of part of the fossil fuels with electricity. That is: producing up to 60% more electricity than today.
He summarizes in Belfort: “We will have to produce much more electricity: and the key to doing it in the safest way is to develop renewable energies and nuclear power”.
Sun and wind from the Elysée
Macron marries the atom but does not abandon sun and wind to achieve carbon neutrality, thus also aiming for a massive development of renewables within 30 years. As for solar energy, it announced its intention to multiply the installed power by almost ten by 2050, thus aiming for 100 gigawatts. Onshore wind power, which currently produces 18.2 gigawatts, is expected to double its power. For offshore wind energy, the head of state is aiming for around fifty parks, with 40 gigawatts in service by 2050.
Getting around fifty wind farms into service by 2050 is quite a challenge. France currently has seven projects divided into ten parks, of which four are under construction. The most advanced, that of Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique), 80 wind turbines, should be put into service within the year; followed by Saint-Brieuc (Côte d'Armor), 62 wind turbines and Fécamp (Seine-Maritime), 71 wind turbines in 2023. Then that of Couseulles-sur-Mer (Calvados), 64 wind turbines, in 2024.
For the moment in France there is currently only one wind turbine in operation at sea: it is a demonstration tree, which is located off the coast of Le Croisic (Loire-Atlantique). Compared to its European neighbors, which have more than 5,400 wind turbines installed at sea, France is clearly lagging behind.
For this reason, in order to increase the production of electricity, it is necessary, alongside renewable energies, to pick up the thread of the great nuclear adventure: "Can you imagine a France in which within 30 years there will be 40,000 wind turbines instead of today's 8,000 and 90 parks offshore wind farms when it took our country 10 years to build one? " Macron considers the proposals of the supporters of the nuclear phase-out "not serious".
What opponents say about Macron and nuclear power
That "non-serious" is not aimed at the self of five years ago, then so enthusiastic about nuclear power that he wanted to reduce it and had shortly before sold to the Americans the know-how of Arabelle turbines, necessary for nuclear power today and in the future. Enough to buy them back.
Its aspiring competitors in April would hardly give up the atom. Both left and right. In recent days, the leader of the Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen , said she wanted to "build six EPRs and reopen the Fessenheim plant". With his 6 + 8 Macron beats her. Republican Valérie Pécresse wants to launch "a new nuclear program". Monsieur le président served it. And he replied when from the far right Eric Zemmour pleaded to give "a nice push quickly to the atom", and the Communist Fabien Roussel said he saw in it the means to "fight against expensive energy". Within hours, on the same day, Macron responded to all four.
There are the no-nuclear ones. In the nuclearxit category, Yannick Jadot , MEP and environmental candidate. The mayor of Paris, the socialist Anne Hidalgo , and Jean-Luc Mélenchon , from La France Insoumise, also set this goal, but not before 2050 for the former and in 2045 for the latter.
Campaigning without saying it
Already but not yet a candidate, Macron da Belfort therefore opens the campaign. The tones betray him: “France, through the strategy it adopts, chooses progress, trust in science, technology and reason. France chooses the climate, equipping itself with the means to achieve its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and to be one of the largest nations to emerge from its dependence on fossil fuels. France made the choice of industry and employment ”. Here it is the electoral route of the not yet candidate.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/francia-nucleare-rinnovabili-macron/ on Fri, 11 Feb 2022 06:52:46 +0000.