ENERGY TRANSITION

Marc Deffrennes, March 1, 2024

Five years into the European green policy, Green Deal oblige, it is necessary, using the opportunity of the upcoming elections, to take a break... and ask the right questions.

What limits to the Integration of Variable and Intermittent Renewable Energies into Electricity Grids and consequences?

A study by Georges Sapy – Translated into English by Elisabeth Huffer – May 2024

For some, this is a victory, but it is not one for the climate

It is all done; after a long journey that began in the early 2000s and was accelerated following the Fukushima accident, Germany has just shut down its last nuclear reactors[1]. It has thus achieved its ambition to move away from nuclear power. For some, this is welcome, for others much less so.

These must be corrected as soon as possible

 The crises we are experiencing (climate crisis, geopolitical crisis, economic crisis,...) remind those who had forgotten them the stakes of the energy field. The fundamental role of energy in our society is reasserted:

The summer of 2022 saw extreme weather in many parts of the world: for Europe, it was the hottest summer on record, combined with catastrophic drought; in France, high temperatures caused the premature death of more than 10,000 persons, according to INSEE[1]; heat and drought combined to breed devastating forest wildfires; destructive thunderstorms and violent Mediterranean events hit several “départements”. 

France must take action so that the development of nuclear energy is fully supported at both the European and the national levels.

Electricity produced with no CO₂ emissions is increasingly emerging as the most efficient and economical energy vector able to massively decarbonize industry, housing, transport etc... Choosing wind power and photovoltaics almost exclusively to produce this decarbonized electricity, however, threatens the electricity supply security of European countries in the coming years and decades.

On July 1st, 2017, an international group of experts on climate and energy addressed new President Macron about his energy policy.

Not translated into French

Link to French version