Benefits of hydro power
Benefits of hydro power
The world’s leading source of renewable electricity, hydropower is now the second-largest source of power generated in France, with 13%, and is the 3rd-largest source of electricity worldwide.
The benefits of hydropower are numerous:
- Among the oldest sources of electricity ever developed, hydropower benefits from great technological maturity. With a strong industrial supply chain, it therefore represents a safe, reliable form of energy.
- Hydroelectric plants, connected to the power grid, are historically anchored in their communities, close to where consumers are: As a precursor to decentralized energy models, hydropower is in line with new societal expectations.
- This is a form of energy that has a very high efficiency (up to 90%).
- Of all forms of energy, hydropower is the one that emits the fewest greenhouse gases.
In a future dominated by renewables, small-scale hydropower is an asset for balance, grid security, and all the services that it provides which are necessary for the general balancing of the electrical system.
How does a hydropower plant work?
How does a hydropower plant work?
Cap Vert Energie focuses its business on two categories of plants:
Run-of-river plants
Defining run-of-river plants, which represent some 2000 facilities in France delivering an installed power of 7600MW. Run-of-river plants are mostly Small Hydraulic Plants (those with power between 500kW and 10MW) and are owned by autonomous producers from very different backgrounds (individuals, mill owners, paper companies, family groups, etc.).
They may be low head or high head, and are characterized by the absence of water retention downstream and by real-time production.
How does it work?
- Some of the watercourse is diverted to the power plant using a dam or intake, then directed to the power plant via a canal and/or penstock for mountain-based plants.
- A hydraulic turbine, combined with an electrical generator, then makes it possible the water’s hydraulic energy into electrical energy.
Drinking-water driven
Drinking-water driven hydropower use gravity and mountain elevations to create energy and thereby use the hydraulic energy of the water that flows within water utility networks. Drinking-water driven facilities generally include a turbine installed at the low point of the network, normally immediately downstream of the headworks reservoir.
This activity is a nascent market in France, which may develop as part of the energy transition supported by local governments.
The rates that small hydropower plants can get and the potential for development
The rates that small hydropower plants can get and the potential for development
A new support mechanism was introduced in France in 2016 (the H16 rate) to allow power plants generating less than 1MW to continue enjoying for 20 years:
- the obligation by EDF to purchase the electricity generated (for new power plants smaller than 500kW)
- additional compensation by EDF (for new power plants between 500kW and 1MW or existing plants less than 1MW which have received investments)
Studies conducted by UFE and DGEC reveal a growth potential of 2738MW in French hydropower production capacity.
The potential for the development of run-of-river plants lies both in the creation of new structures and in the outfitting of existing ones (old mills, dams, obsolete facilities like tanneries or papermills, etc.) and infrastructure dedicated to other purposes (drinking water or wastewater turbines, irrigation channels, utility networks, etc.).
Cap Vert Energie’s assistance and expertise
Cap Vert Energie’s assistance and expertise
Cap Vert Energie’s assistance can come in different forms depending on your situation:
- If you own an existing hydroelectric plant, a mill, or a diversion dam… and you’re looking to sell your asset or are being forced to perform renovations on your facility (particularly for environmental preservation). Cap Vert Energie can step in as an acquirer and offer you any type of solution, from buyouts to partnerships.
- Either you’ve identified potential on your own land, or a site fit for a hydroelectric power project. Cap Vert Energie can work with you to develop the project or purchase it from you.
In any case, Cap Vert Energie is your sole point of contact, which takes over all of the approaches and formalities related to the project of building or purchasing your hydroelectric plant. With a dedicated team that brings together technical, legal, and financial skills, the hydropower business is able to offer crosscutting expertise that makes it possible to securely complete your plant sale or development projects.
The benefits of Cap Vert Energie
- Audit and analysis conducted internally for better speed and responsiveness
- Always looking for ways to optimize and improve for an ideal assessment of the acquisition price
- Seeking partnerships with local governments
- Total confidentiality in the information exchange
- Lack of conditions related to bank financing
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