A confidential report published by management and hydraulic engineering production (DPIH) and EDF unveiled by the magazine Capital, said that nearly half of 450 dams operated by EDF are in a dilapidated state. The group said today that it will release 500 million over the period 2007-2011 for maintenance of these structures. While most media have relayed this information, none draws a parallel with another report on the renewal of the hydropower. Off to the extent that the park is now older, financial conditions and scenarios relating to these concessions remain outstanding.

About four hundred and fifty dams operated in France by the group, two hundred are deemed obsolete and a hundred can be considered hazardous, with the risk of subsidence of land, destruction of roads and flooding villages. The problems are mostly concentrated in the Alps, but the dams of the Massif Central and the Pyrenees are also involved. What is happening instead of dams granted to other producers such as Suez? Are they better statements?

According to a November 2006 report on the renewal of the hydropower, it appears that EDF and Suez managed by all the dams with a power greater than 50 Mega Watts. But for the portion of the 4.5 to 50 MW, thirty books are managed by other producers.

Therefore, to what extent does the obsolescence of some dams could jeopardize the concessions? Similarly, it would be interesting to know the status of dams granted to private groups. Are they better or less well-maintained? The stakes are here….