Green energy from father to son

Everywhere, high elevations and big mountain roads. Past the A430 motorway and the N90 national road, and it is between the Col de la Seigne and Les Arcs that the red and white sign for Bourg-Saint-Maurice is planted in the Tarentaise Valley. Between the conifers, and at an altitude of more than 480 meters, only the noises of a few utilities and trams are heard. First on the right, we park the vehicle and it is at the Café de la Paix that a child from the region calls out to us: his name is Jules Barthe. It is a producer of renewable energy.

“It was my father who started it all fifteen years ago now. At the time, he was renovating a first power plant, he was starting out in the business but he was never intimidated by the workload,” begins Jules Barthe, cheerful. “One thing led to another, we saw him set up a first site, then a second site, then a third and on the right track, he did not reduce the wind since we are now 25 power plants open and renovated in several locations in France.” Coffee in hand, Jules Barthe then begins to list the various geographical centers where their power plants are located. “We have two poles, one in the South-West going from Agen to Montpellier going down to the Pyrenees and another Alps pole that starts not far from Grenoble, which touches Bourg-Saint-Maurice where we are today and Haute-Savoie. The idea is to be able to have strong and diversified territorial anchorages.”

In his early twenties, Jules Barthe is the proud representative of the family business Groupe Barthe ENR. After completing his studies as an operations manager, he now supervises the teams on site and ensures the technical implementation and coordination of operations. “My role is to make sure that the power plants work. I work on site and remotely with a team of specialized engineers and technicians. Today, we produce energy using turbines, which are activated by water, in order to reinject as much green electricity into the grid as much as possible.”

Setting up a hydroelectric power plant is no easy task. Don't open anyone who wants to. The operating representative takes the time to explain public procurement tenders to us - “an unusual step”. After selection, the administrative steps begin with the town halls and the communities concerned. Very often, other stakeholders such as the French Forest Agency and the French Biodiversity Office become the company's interlocutors. Their function is primarily based on good monitoring and compliance with all stages of site preservation. All these public actors are therefore working on the feasibility of such a project.

There is only one more step left: convincing. “After having the “yes we want a hydroelectric power plant”, we need the “yes, I will buy you your green electricity”, explains Jules Barthe and “that is another step”. “Most often, we take the time to go and meet the inhabitants of cities or villages. Very often too, we talk 1 hour about everything and nothing, we are interested in them and then they understand. We explain our approach to them, we tell them why we do this and how we do it,” he says. “And then, there is now the unequivocal argument about the risks of energy dependence and that speaks to everyone.”

Faced with the increase in energy prices in France, in January 2022, the government announced measures with a tariff shield to avoid an increase in consumers' energy bills. In this regard, when one discusses the question of the price shield with Jules Barthes, his answer was not long in coming. It is based in part on the necessary empowerment of territories for greater resilience. “The war that has broken out between Russia and Ukraine really raises the question of our dependence on energy from outside.” And to support his argument, the young man yells with some figures. “40 euros per megawatt, that's what we did two years ago. Today, with what is happening, we are peaking at 500, do you realize? I don't know what the price will be in two or three years, but that, what is certain, is that it raises the question of our organization.”

Since the cost of a megawatt is directly correlated to production, storage, supply and marketing costs; but also to the price of gas, the cost of transport and CO2 quotas, producing in France and locally is probably unanimous for these producers. “Today, in my consumption, even food, I prefer to support the producer near my home than the one who comes from far away. This is why we are trying to show that the logic of consumption that we have for fruits and vegetables is exactly the same for electricity”, affirms Jules Barthe. “I can't blame people. First of all, before working in this sector, I thought that electricity was only EDF. I had no idea that other players were present on the market” smiles the operator.

As for the rest, the signs are green. After developing the South-West and the Alps, the Group intends to establish itself in the Pyrenees. “As we come from there, we would very much like to open power plants in these areas” he enthuses. “There are regions where that's impossible. In Brittany, for example, the typography of the territory is much less interesting because there are few, or almost no, differences in altitude.” The important thing, according to him, is to have different types of watercourses in a portfolio so as to be able to have stable flows.

“We work based on the seasonality of watercourses. The Garonne and the Loire are more stable because there is much more water because there are few variations. On the others, the falls, as it is cold, everything depends on the temperature. As we say at home, we are power plants along the way. Unlike EDF dams, which regulate by blocking flows, we are on continuous flows. That's why we're more dependent on changes in the elements.”