Paris, January 26, 2012.
Greater Dijon chooses Dalkia for its future heating network
Dalkia, a joint subsidiary of Veolia Environnment and EDF, has been awarded a 25-year design, build and operate contract for the new Greater Dijon district heating network. As much as 80% of the network's energy needs will come from renewable sources.
As part of a public service management contract, the Greater Dijon joint district authority has appointed Dalkia to manage its heating network for 25 years.
The 30 kilometer low-temperature network will provide heat to homes (including many located in eco-districts) and public installations. The network will have two heat generation units: a 30 megawatt biomass heating plant to the south of the city that, once it reaches full capacity, will be fired by some 50,000 metric tons of biomass sourced mainly from the region's public and private forests as well as using by-products from the region's wood-processing industry; and a waste-to-energy plant to the north of the city that processes Greater Dijon's household waste.
As much as 80% of the heat will therefore be generated from renewable and recovered energy.
The choice of biomass as a fuel will also help to strengthen the local wood-energy sector, which predicts that it will create 20 new jobs that are safe from the risk of relocation. The creation of this heating network, which is in line with the objectives set out by France's Grenelle Environment Forum, is supported by the Heat Fund of Ademe, France's Environment and Energy Management Agency.
"By anticipating the measures decided by the Grenelle Environment Forum, such as the implementation of its regional plan for energy and the climate, Greater Dijon has seized the chance offered by work on the new tramway to install the first 5 kilometers of the future heating network at a low cost. New installations will be added to this initial pipe network, which will supply enough green heating energy to meet the needs of almost 20,000 households."
This showcase installation will cut the heating and hot water costs for future users as well as insulating them from 80% of rises in the cost of fossil fuels.
"The Greater Dijon network will be an effective weapon in the fight against fuel poverty, as well as significantly cutting the carbon footprint of the Greater Dijon area by avoiding 37,000 metric tons of CO2 that would otherwise have been emitted. That's equivalent to the emissions of 16,000 cars a year."
This contract will generate estimated cumulative revenue for Dalkia in excess of 200 million euros.