"ELECTRICITY/HEAT" CO-GENERATION : A PROMISING SOURCE

Objective

At the beginning of the 1980s, the three main energy consumption sectors, industry, residential and transport represent 36%, 29% and 23% respectively of the final energy balance. Petroleum products account for 43% gas for 11%, and electricity for 31%.
Meanwhile in 1987, following the fall in oil prices, the Region decided to update these projections, and to extent them until 1995.
Two preoccupations have guided the revision of the Regional Plan. The first has been to improve forecasting tools. The second has been to adjust the scenarios in order to encourage the exploitation of the renewable energy potential.
In practice, the formulation of new recommendations has involved :
* preparing a new energy balance;
* extrapolating forecast scenarios until 1995;
* evaluating the contribution of renewable energy sources;
* identifying and exploring new sources of energy, in particular combined electricity heat production, which can potentially strengthen the region's energy autonomy.
ELECTRICITY VERSUS OIL
The updated projections remap the supply and demand flows. Among the most significant tendencies, we note :
* the moderate growth (0.4% per year) of demand from the residential sector, little affected by fluctuations in GDP.
* a stackening (0.5% per year) of demand from the industrial sector, following the reduction of industrial activities (coal mining and mechanical engineering) in the region;
* an upsurge (2.8% per year) of demand from a rapidly expanding services sector.
Looking at the different vectors of the regional energy supply, we note a significant reduction in the forecast share of oil products (from 43% to 33%), in favour of electricity, which achieves a significant breakthrough (from 39% to 48%), in particular in SMEs-SMIs, and, to a lesser extent, gas (which increases from 11% to 13%).
THE CURRENT SITUATION : RENEWABLE ENERGY
Compared with the 1982 forecasts, all the updated results have had to be revised downwards. Certain sources such as solar energy, wood heating and the recovery of household waste remain promising. In 1995, renewable energy consumption is expected to reach 600,000 toe (3% to 4% of the regional total).
ELECTRICITY HEAT
The size of the urban and economic infrastructure of the Rhone-Alpes region - 30 cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants makes it an excellent experimental ground for combined electricity/heating production. Theoretical studies, backed by on-site approach can achieve optimum economic performance under certain conditions :
* in general, combined production is most profitable when conceived as a variant of a classical heat-producing installation.
* seen from this angle, the different generating chains (steam, gas turbines and thermal engines) are the most productive in winter, when electricity is produced downstream from heat.
* likewise, the availability of the installation as an emergency system in the event of a breakdown of the general electricity grid (EDF) plays a considerable role in the economic calculation.
All of the projects studied also demonstrate the extent to which this type of operation requires complex legal engineering. Nonetheless, the global amount of the energy savings generated by combined production could increase to 45,000 toe, i.e. about 1% of demand from the residential and services sectors.
The new supply and demand balance starts with an updating of the date used in the 1983 balance. Whenever possible, new deconcentrated and modulated national data have been projected, based on the particular circumstances of individual regions. To enable it to extrapolate the tendencies of economic growth and energy policy management, the study explored 4 hypotheses : * two hypotheses relating to the annual growth of GDP (1.5% and 2.6%)
* two hypotheses in the area of energy management (growth of energy efficiency between 1983 and 1995 of 7% and 16%). Only the most optimistic projection (a 2.6% growth in GDP and a 16% growth in energy efficiency of 16%) would fit the EC's envisaged "Energy 2000" scenario".
In the ultimate analysis, the results are presented to groups of local decision makers and weighted by the projection of regional objectives (development of renewable energy sources).

Programme(s)

ENG-THERMIE 1 - Programme (EEC) for the promotion of energy technology in Europe (THERMIE), 1990-1994

Topic(s)

Data not available

Call for proposal

Data not available

Funding Scheme

DEM - Demonstration contracts

Coordinator

Rhonalpénergie

EU contribution

No data

Address

69 rue de la République
69002 Lyon
France

Total cost