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By AUDE LE GENTIL
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— Offshore wind: no winner, but a vision
— The electrification of fleets swallowed up by amendments
— The PPL on the shrinkage-swelling of clay in vortices
Hello everyone, It is Tuesday April 30. Before the senatorial commission of inquiry, Patrick Pouyanné unsurprisingly outlined last night the climate strategy that he had already detailed to Bloomberg. The CEO of TotalEnergies has taken responsibility for his oil and gas investments and has been offensive, particularly regarding his controversial projects in countries with little respect for human rights.
It must be said that he was well helped by very broad questions, without or almost no follow-up, and by benevolent right and center elected officials. The president of the commission, Roger Karoutchi (LR), thus tackled the “militant” questions of his left-wing colleagues.
There was also a lot of talk about gas. Patrick Pouyanné, again unsurprisingly, presented it as a transition energy (as a reminder, climatologist Valérie Masson-Delmotte countered this argument during her own hearing) and a flexibility tool.
As for Russian LNG imports, “If we decide to ban them, then we will have to look for this LNG elsewhere and prices will rise,” assured the CEO. And added: “For TotalEnergies, this is not a problem; with rising prices, the company will earn more. But I don’t recommend it.
NOSE TO THE WIND. The wind power sector is on the horizon. Attend. Sigh. Get carried away. On Thursday, ministers Bruno Le Maire and Roland Lescure are traveling to Loire-Atlantique to talk about offshore wind power, on the occasion of the departure ceremony for electrical substations from the Engie and EDP offshore wind farm.
On the menu : there will be a question of recourse to industry Made in France, trajectories and calendar. But not the winner for the call for tenders in South Brittany, distinguished several ministerial advisors, despite a persistent rumor.
This call for tenders is “highly anticipated”, according to an energy specialist because it is the first to focus on floating wind power. Daniel Cueff, vice-president for the sea and the coast of the Brittany region, is getting impatient, knowing that the Energy Regulatory Commission rendered its decision on April 2. He nevertheless emphasizes that it would have been “cavalier” for the announcement to have been made from Pays-de-la-Loire.
Conclusion from our energy specialist : “A call for tenders without delay is not a French call for tenders. »
What to say then? “This is the opportunity to say when they will announce the choice of new sites to develop offshore wind power and to confirm the giant call for tenders of 10 gigawatts (baptized AO10, ndvi)”, imagines the president of the Union of renewable energies, Jules Nyssen, who will be on the trip.
At 14 hours, hearings of Emmanuelle Wargon, president of the Energy Regulatory Commission, then of Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher, by the senatorial commission of inquiry into electricity.
At 2:30 p.m., general meeting of the ENGIE group.
From 15 hours, examination in the National Assembly of the proposed law on the electrification of automobile fleets.
At 7:30 p.m., debate on the theme “How to change our imagination to get out of the climate impasse? organized by the Grand Continent, with the philosophers Pierre Charbonnier and Michael Foessel, the activist Camille Etienne and the MEP Raphaël Glucksmann.
LAST STAND. The examination of the proposed law on the electrification of corporate fleets may turn into a mess, but its support remains mobilized, particularly from green NGOs.
The PPL is “essential”according to Sarah Chadha, at The Climate Group: “This step is crucial if we want to achieve the European objective of ending the sale of new cars and vans with thermal engines by 2035”.
Under conditions. Respire, which campaigns against air pollution, conditions its support on maintaining the eco-score, to encourage the purchase of the “least polluting and lightest” electric vehicles and the reintegration of taxis and VTCs into the scope of the law. Amendments in this direction, inspired by the association, have also been tabled in the ranks of Nupes (here, there or here).
The PPL is drowning in amendmentsas we announced to you last Thursday. 325 amendments were tabled, including 51 for Bruno Millienne (Modem) alone, fiercely opposed to the text, who wants to delete each article, one by one.
PPL Cinderella. Examination of the text must begin around 9:30 p.m., under the eye of Patrice Vergriete, Minister Delegate for Transport, who supports the text. Which is a little late for the text to be voted on before midnight. The PPL should therefore be put back on the Assembly’s agenda in September, at the earliest.
THE ATOM AT THE CONSTITUTE COUNCIL. Maxime Laisney (LFI) and Gérard Leseul (PS) present today their appeal against the nuclear safety bill tabled on April 17 before the Constitutional Council, during a closed-door hearing. Decision planned “around May 17”.
The nine members will have to decide whether the text complies with the provisions of the Environmental Charter. They will also rule on the modification of the organic law to allow the appointment of the president of Orano on the advice of Parliament.
DAC OR NO AC. The startup Jimmy Energies filed a creation authorization request yesterday with the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the first administrative step for its mini-nuclear reactor project to generate heat for industrial purposes (we told you about it here). The request will then be studied by the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN).
Debate to come. “In parallel with the very demanding examination process carried out by the authorities, Jimmy will be available to all parties involved,” indicates the CEO and co-founder of the company Antoine Guyot. It must be said that the installation of the microreactor by 2026 is already raising fears among local environmentalist associations and elected officials.
PPL IN CLAY LANDS. This morning, the Senate Finance Committee appoints a rapporteur for the proposed law on compensation for damage caused by the shrinkage-swelling of clay. And it should be Christine Lavarde (LR), informed your newsletter, and not an environmentalist.
Let’s rewind. In the Assembly, this PPL supported by the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau, and registered in their niche, had gathered transpartisan support a year ago, with only nine votes against, and the abstention of the presidential majority. But in the Senate, it’s a different story.
It deflates. Christine Lavarde intends to propose the rejection of this text in the Finance Committee, the week of May 21. In the meantime, she will have tabled her own bill on compensation and prevention of natural disasters (your newsletter told you about it here).
Result : the bill would be examined in its original version in a public session on May 30, the day of the environmentalist niche. With little chance of success, in the absence of support from the right. Nor even to be examined, since it was placed on the agenda after the proposed law on eternal pollutants, which risks swallowing up the four hours of debate developed.
Explanations from Christine Lavarde: “This text is incomplete and unbalanced. If it is applied as it is, the insurance system collapses. (It’s) a rejection of the method, not of the observation.
On the environmentalist side, Senator Ghislaine Senée, who hoped to carry this text, will seek to convince. : “I find it hard to imagine that the senators, who are in contact with local elected officials, were not keen to provide an answer to the millions of French people concerned. Yes, it has a cost, but it is climate change that requires this.
ENGIE EN AG. No climate resolution is on the agenda for the ENGIE general meeting, but, according to information in your newsletter, investors in the Climate Action 100+ coalition should nevertheless ask questions about the group’s gas expansion.
“The absence of a clear commitment to end gas expansion”is mentioned by a report produced by the NGO Reclaim Finance, which mentions the signing of long-term contracts for American LNG, beyond 2040. The other blind spot is the company’s industrial bet on sectors. which have not yet been proven on a large scale, such as hydrogen or biomethane.
Encouragement. The report nevertheless welcomes “ambitious development of renewable energies” and “voluntary improvement” and transparency. ENGIE refuses to comment on the report but indicates that the group’s general director will discuss its climate policy during the AGM.
— Le Monde went to the Camargue to meet opponents of a very high voltage line crossing the Camargue planned by RTE to electrify in particular the industrial site of Fos-sur-Mer.
— Waste produced by waste incineration should not be considered a source of green heat, according to around thirty NGOs, say my Brussels colleagues Marianne Gros and Victor Jack.
— EDF has submitted an offer to build one to four EPRs in the Czech Republic. Les Echos got wind of it.
A big thank you to our editor Alexandre Léchenet.
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