The French Energy Ministry is on its way to submit an application to the European Commission regarding the extension of the "La Truyère", "Lot" and "Rhône" hydroelectric licenses. The licenses are currently awarded to EDF and the CNR (Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, a subsidiary of Engie).
The background behind the application is the formal notice France has received from the European Commission to introduce greater competition in the allocation of these concessions in 2015 and there is the risk that the extension of the licenses is not awarded.
The French government tried to find a solution and took the notice into account in its Energy Transition Act which introduced a new legal framework, still not completely endorsed by the European Commission. In this new framework, the new legal provisions enable the creation of joint public and private ventures which will supervise hydro power plants. The article 116 of the Act also introduced a possibility of extending the concessions if necessary works to achieve the objectives of the energy policy is carried out in the meanwhile. The extension must be formalized by an amendment to the concession contract and remain proportionate, taking into account the investments and the initial duration of the concession.
The "La Truyère" (French department of Aveyron) and "Lot" (Lot department) hydro concession are operated by EDF and they encompass 8 operational plants running within the framework of 9 contracts with a complete capacity of 1.8 GW.
The Rhône concession includes 19 hydroelectric power stations with a total installed capacity of 2.9 GW. It is operated by the CNR and owned by Engie (49.97%), local municipalities (16,83%) and the Caisse des Dépôts (33,2%).
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