The French Court of Auditors questions EDF on climate change
According to the Court of Auditors of France, the French electricity company EDF must make more efforts to adapt to climate change. The article from Energia Oltre
The French Court of Auditors warns Edf about climate change. According to the just released 2024 annual report , more efforts are needed to adapt to climate change. An emergency that affects everyone, including Italy.
THE WARNING FROM THE FRENCH COURT OF AUDITORS
What needs to be done is to "identify and measure the costs of adaptation" to climate change, both in terms of operation and investments. A warning for energy operators, even if they have already "largely integrated" the issue "in their guidelines and safety standards". The Republic beyond the Alps, in fact, is mostly powered by energy produced by nuclear and hydroelectric power: in 2023 these two sources represented around 73% and by being powered by water, this raises an issue closely linked to climate change , living in a period in which drought phenomena are far from rare.
EDF'S ADAPT PROJECT
As Monde recalls , the EDF giant must be careful about this relationship because "with the Adapt project, launched in 2021, the state group intends to shape the country for 2050. Its fifty-six reactors currently in operation have an average age of 38 years; is studying the possibility of extending them to 60 years or more. Some power plants are already protected by a dam, such as that of Gravelines, in anticipation of rising water levels." In EDF's plan there are also six new reactors to be built by 2050, plus another eight to be built subsequently. But the giant also produces hydroelectric energy, accounting for 70% of national needs. For the CdC, therefore, it is necessary to "identify and measure the costs of adapting to climate change, both in terms of operation and investments". But the warnings are also addressed to the executive: "Improve the reliability of measurements of water extraction and consumption by nuclear power plants." In this regard, the progressive newspaper recalls the sudden update of government statistics: "water consumption for power plants is now estimated at 12% of the volume of water consumed every year in mainland France, instead of 31%".
The climate change emergency exists. “The latest EDF studies suggest that the rate of unavailability will increase three to four times between now and 2050,” warns the CoC report.
CLIMATE, NUCLEAR AND HYDROELECTRIC: THE SITUATION IN ITALY
As for climate change in Italy, at the end of February Ispra recorded that the phenomenon "is underway and is destined to continue: temperatures are increasing, precipitation trends are varying, ice and snow are melting and the level of sea is rising." A global but also national emergency, because "in the last thirty years (1991–2020)" our country has recorded "average temperature anomaly values often higher than the global average on the mainland. 2022 turns out to be the warmest year of the entire series since 1961, with a marked anomaly in the average temperature of +1.23 °C compared to the 1991–2020 climatological average, +0.58 °C higher than the previous record absolute value of 2018 and +1.0 °C compared to the value of 2021".
HOW HYDROELECTRICITY IS GOING IN ITALY
As for the two energy sources covered by the French CdC report, according to Terna data, in 2023 Italy consumed hydroelectric energy for 39,832.5 GWh, recovering a lot of ground lost in 2022 due to massive drought phenomena.
But regarding hydroelectric matters, there remains a problem linked to concessions yet to be resolved. “The recent Energy Legislative Decree represented an opportunity to reflect on a legislative intervention aimed at providing that Regions and Autonomous Provinces can opt for a procedure for remodulating the duration of concession contracts, in light of the concessionaire's commitment to implementing a multi-year plan of investments, with clear benefits in energy and environmental terms", recently explained Pichetto Fratin, Minister of the Environment and Energy Security.
AND ABOUT NUCLEAR?
As for nuclear power, however, the Italian debate has continued since September, promising progress in research on small modular reactors. “In June, Italy will have its own roadmap for nuclear power,” Minister Pichetto promised on the subject.
(Article published in Energia Oltre)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/corte-dei-conti-francia-edf/ on Sun, 17 Mar 2024 07:10:56 +0000.