Dams, wind turbines… In terms of electricity, Aveyron produces almost three times what it consumes

Une situation que l’Aveyron doit avant tout à ses nombreux barrages, comme ici à Montézic. Repro CP – EDF

Avec une consommation de 1,54 TWh d’électricité pour une production de 4,12 TWh, le département se place comme l’un des meilleurs élèves en la matière au cours de l’année 2023.

This is no surprise to anyone. When it comes to energy, Aveyron is an excellent student. And the recent data, for the year 2023, published by RTE Sud-Ouest (subsidiary of EDF and manager of the public electricity transmission network) once again supports this statement. Last year, the department consumed 1.54 TWh of electricity for a production of 4.12 TWh. To summarize, the territory produces almost three times more energy than it consumes!

Hydroelectricity juggernaut

A rather rare situation in France, and even more so on a regional scale. As for its energy balance, Occitanie has a deficit of 13.5 TWh (22.7 produced for a consumption of 36.2). But as mentioned above, this phenomenon is neither surprising nor new. Since to present such a face, Rouergue relies on its structuring tools in terms of energy, built for many years already, its hydroelectric power stations, Montézic (production capacity of 920 MW, the equivalent of a nuclear reactor) and the Pouget complex (480 MW) in the lead. Hydroelectricity, the leading renewable energy in the country, acts as a behemoth in Aveyron and represents approximately three quarters of our production (11% of the French energy mix).

But that's not all. Since with 164 masts planted in its soil, mainly in South Aveyron and Lévézou, wind power represents 15% of the territory's energy production. Next comes solar energy, represented by photovoltaics in full development, particularly on an individual scale (9% of departmental production).

Soon Montézic 2?

This places Aveyron as the second department producing the most renewable energy in Occitanie and the second largest producer of hydroelectricity in France. Also, with nearly 1,600 facilities, at the beginning of 2023, the territory was the national number one in terms of connected renewable energy installations.

A position to be consolidated, while in recent years, new projects have been increasingly contested, whether for wind or photovoltaic. While on the dam side, Montézic is waiting for the green light from Europe to launch its project to create a second underground plant. 500 million euros will be committed, for a power increase from 920 to 1,390 MW in the long term.

Consumption down and production up

Could these be the effects of the famous energy sobriety policy hammered home by the government in recent years?? In any case, at the national (-3.2%), regional (-3.6%) and departmental (-3.34%) levels, energy consumption (corrected for weather and calendar hazards) is decreasing between 2022 and 2023, against the backdrop of an increase in the cost of electricity of around 50% between 2020 and 2024, marked in particular by inflation and the war in Ukraine.

From On the other side in Aveyron, production increased significantly, by 22.69%. This is explained by a disastrous year in 2022 for hydroelectricity. “It was marked by a crisis in hydraulic production, at its lowest since 1976”, confirms RTE. At the Pouget complex, for example, there was a 40% drop in production, due to the drought and low water levels in rivers. This is not the case in Occitanie, where production is down by 22.1% due to the shutdown of the two reactors at the Golfech nuclear power plant for “checks related to the stress corrosion phenomenon”, RTE specifies.

I subscribe to read the rest