In two words, what is Hydrocop?
Jean-Éric Carré, CEO of Hydrocop – Hydrocop is a group of local distribution companies – the former municipal electricity companies which are often semi-public companies and which operate distribution networks on their perimeter – which wanted to develop and acquire means of hydroelectric generation. They came together for this more than ten years ago now by creating Hydrocop.
What is your hydroelectric production?
On average, about 350 gigawatts per hour are produced per year, which is roughly equivalent to the consumption, excluding heating, of 350,000 people.
Are there still development prospects for hydroelectricity?
Yes there are development prospects for hydroelectricity, there are indeed still a certain number of sites, rather small hydroelectricity, but suddenly with a very limited impact. The difficulty of equipping these sites being to bring together two regulations which unfortunately are opposed: one which promotes renewable energies and in particular hydroelectricity, and another which wants to preserve aquatic environments, and which therefore tends effectively to consider that any new installation is done to the detriment of this environment…
This is not the case?
From my point of view obviously this is not the case.
Yet you operate on aquatic environments…
Yes, of course, we operate in aquatic environments, but first of all we operate without consuming water: we are not the cause of a drop in flow rates and all our facilities have been designed today and for a long time to be transparent, both to fish life, to sediment transport… This is a regulatory obligation. And today all the monitoring that we have and that we have been carrying out for years on our impacts on the environment show that we are absolutely not degrading them. There is even a tendency on certain mountain sites such as those in the Alps to observe that life in the section derived from the river in general is doing better than on natural sections, which are often characterized by very cold and too tumultuous waters.
What are your projects?
We have a few projects in the Maurienne valley (Savois): with the municipality of Saint-Alban-les Villards, and we also have a second project which is also in the municipality of Valloire. And then a project which has just been authorized also in the town of Argentière-la-Bessée in the Hautes-Alpes, on the Fournel torrent.
Hydrocop is organizing two open days at its Pinsot plant (Isère) on June 24 and 25. Registration and information here.