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The biomass cogeneration plant operated by Dalkia provides part of the heating and electricity for Rennes using wood.
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C. Allain / 20 Minutes
In Rennes, voices are raised to question the methods of supplying the Dalkia biomass boiler, which supplies the south of the city with heating and electricity.
The EDF subsidiary had promised to obtain supplies as far away as 100 km from Rennes.
Defenders of wood energy are trying to promote this technology in the department but on smaller models.
The thermometer dropped sharply on Wednesday morning.
As a result, the radiators were re-ignited in most individual and collective residences.
Throughout the southern area of Rennes, a large part of this heat is produced by the cogeneration plant operated by Dalkia, a subsidiary of the EDF group.
Inaugurated in 2013, the plant is capable of heating around 20,000 homes and produces electricity outside the winter period.
Its construction was motivated by the desire to call on a sustainable resource, disconnected from the fluctuating price of gas, and local.
On this last point, voices are raised to alert on the origin of the wood, which arrives on board twenty trucks a day.
Where do they come from ?
Difficult to know.
In 2013, Dalkia made a commitment to supply itself within a radius not exceeding 100 kilometers around Rennes.
Asked by us, the EDF subsidiary did not wish to speak.
The state services that monitor the supply have not been more talkative.
"We have been denouncing this opacity for years and asking for information."
Patron of environmentalists in Rennes Métropole, Matthieu Theurier never got the supply card he hoped for.
"We have reasons to think that the radius of 100 kilometers is regularly exceeded", regrets another elected member of the metropolitan majority.
"They bring in trucks from Saint-Malo"
During our investigation, several sources have mentioned damaged wooded areas in Mayenne or even “transhipment” practices allowing wood to be transported from one platform to another.
A former customer of Bois Energie France, the EDF supply subsidiary claims “never to have had a contract” when it supplied the Dalkia plant.
The practice also annoys the president of the Brittany Chamber of Agriculture Loïc Guines, who recently denounced “ecological and economic nonsense.
They bring in trucks from Saint-Malo when there are resources from local farmers.
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#FondsChaleur #AdemeBretagne #PaysDeRennes
Visit of the # Laillé wood boiler site with @ALEC_Rennes: 7,000 m2 of heated buildings, an energy bill divided by 2, a boiler room supplied with local wood # CollectifBreizhBocage35. # Circular Economy pic.twitter.com / KJLHYRjP2x
- Pays de Rennes (@PaysdeRennes) July 17, 2019
In fact, the management of the resource is proving to be quite complicated, all the more so as the forms of “fuelwood” vary from forest chips to chipped wood, including resources from the hedges in our countryside.
“We should not focus on a single plant.
Everyone has their constraints.
The important thing is to take small steps.
The energy market is tight, we must be vigilant.
But I assure you that the projects do not come out if the deposit is not sufficient, ”assures Marc Le Treis, leader of the AILE association responsible for monitoring the resource in Ille-et-Vilaine.
"Wood energy has a more stable cost than gas"
In Brittany, the wood energy sector is particularly supported by the regional council, which wishes to encourage the construction of biomass boilers.
Several municipalities around Rennes such as Laillé, Châteaugiron or Le Rheu have or will invest soon.
Will the forests and fields of the region be able to supply all the demand?
“Yes, there is room.
The resource exists and it is well managed.
These municipalities wanted to enhance the use of bocage wood in order to have a local resource that maintains their hedges ”, assure Fabien Pottier and Olivier Roche, leaders at the local Energy and Climate Agency (ALEC).
The two men are trying to convince communities to think about investing in wood-fired boilers.
And use a strong argument.
“Fuelwood has a more stable cost than gas.
It will become more and more profitable ”.
And offers the advantage of being renewable, even if its combustion generates air pollution.
The development of the sector could also benefit local actors such as farmers who can hope to derive an income from it.
"Our vocation is to put trees back at the heart of farms, to consider common wood one crop among others", estimates Pierric Cordouen, pilot of Bois Bocage 35. Founded in 2011, this collective has 80 farmers. 'Ille-et-Vilaine among its suppliers but hopes to continue to develop.
“You have to supervise the market because it is sometimes wild.
We are working on small deposits and we insist on replanting.
But not everyone does it ”.
When he refuses certain grubbing-up sites that he considers dangerous for biodiversity, Pierric Cordouen sees other less scrupulous companies intervening in his place.
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