ADEME - Its role in energy and climate

Faced with environmental pollution, which is becoming more and more worrying, several organizations have been set up. Among these, there is ADEME, whose missions are multiple, and revolve in particular around environmental protection.

After talking about The role of Ademe in waste management, today we are looking at the role of Ademe in energy and climate.

The promotion of renewable energies by ADEME

To deal with the climate emergency, ADEME (Agency for the Environment and Energy Management) has adopted numerous policies. One of the most important is the promotion of renewable energies that it has been doing for years. Its various actions are oriented towards wind energy, solar energy, biomass, and many others.

ADEME's actions on wind energy

Wind power generation aims to respond to various climate and energy concerns. These include energy independence, air quality, the development of national resources, the fight against climate change.

In concrete terms, wind energy contributes to the balance between supply and demand of the national electrical system. It contributes to the limitation of emissions of greenhouse gases. The sector also creates local jobs, added value, and is the source of numerous social and technical innovations.

In 2021, more than 900 French companies were interested in this sector, for more than 200,000 jobs. Today, many French companies export equipment intended for the creation of wind farms, for a turnover of around 1 billion euros per year. The influence of ADEME on these results cannot be overlooked.

Over the past twenty years, the Ecological Transition Agency has set up technical training courses to study best practices appropriate to Assembly of wind farms in France. ADEME has also entered into partnerships with nature conservation associations such as the League for the Protection of Birds, or France Nature Environnement.

ADEME also supports the research and development of projects related to wind energy. Its major actions focus on the forecasting, compatibility, and predictability of wind farms, and radars used for meteorology.

ADEME's actions on solar energy

There are several methods for producing solar energy. Each of them has very specific advantages. However, for the most part, they participate in the ecological transition.

More specifically, ADEME encourages photovoltaic solar energy, in particular through research and development. For example, it supports the development of products and components in the photovoltaic field. She is involved in international research projects such as the Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS).

It is an EIA Technology Collaboration Program (International Energy Agency) on photovoltaics. The transition agency also provided funding and expertise on several projects such as the Photovoltaics Resource Center managed by HESPUL, and the RGE certification (Recognized Environmental Guarantor).

ADEME's actions on Thermodynamic solar are not numerous, of course, but they are not negligible. Since 2010, the agency has launched Calls for Expressions of Interest (AMI), as part of the Investments for the Future program.

One of these calls concerns thermodynamic solar energy. Its objective is to promote innovative projects with a commercial and industrial aim, for medium and long-term deployment. This AMI supported the financing of 5 demonstration projects.

The Agency for the Environment and Energy Management works for energy storage

Since its creation, and to date, ADEME has made every effort to promote the development of renewables.

To achieve its objective, the Ecological Transition Agency is looking for solutions to facilitate the storage of energy. The latter will have an impact on the improvement of energy efficiency, and will facilitate the integration of renewable energies. It also brings flexibility and security to networks.

In reality, energy storage refers to electricity and heat. It consists in storing energy for future use, in a place that may be the same or different as that of production.

For several years, ADEME has been encouraging research and development of storage systems. Its main objective is to reduce costs. As part of Investments for the Future, the Ecological Transition Agency also supports projects that implement storage technologies, or that promote the integration of storage systems into energy networks.

In collaboration with ATEE (Association Technique Énergie Environnement), and the Directorate-General for Competitiveness, Industry and Services (DGCIS), ADEME financed a study that aims to determine the storage potential by 2050. At the end of the study, an economically profitable potential between 1 and 2 GW was identified.

ADEME's actions on climate

One of the major missions of ADEME is to dealing with the climate emergency. To this end, it is implementing numerous actions aimed at protecting the climate, the soil, the air, and the environment in general.

Waste management

In recent years, the French authorities have expressed the burning desire to break with the ordinary linear vision of consumption (extraction, production, consumption, destruction). Today, faced with the challenges of protecting the environment, it seems appropriate to limit the use of resources, and to organize them more effectively.

This obviously involves more optimal waste management. With this in mind, ADEME supports the concept of the circular economy, through the Waste Fund. The latter consists in implementing, on the ground, “France's waste policy”.

In 2016, it had a budget of 194 million euros, thanks to which it subsidized aid for sorting bio-waste at the source. The Ecological Transition Agency also supports the implementation of waste reduction and recovery projects, in particular between 2014 and 2020.

Preserving the soil

Although trivialized by many people, soil pollution is a problem that threatens the future of the planet. To face this international challenge, the expertise of several scientific disciplines is required. It is in this perspective that theADEME supports dozens of research projects relating to the management of polluted sites and soils.

The agency also offers solutions for the conversion of sites exposed to pollution. In reality, some polluted land represents thousands of hectares. When they are well treated and depolluted, they become real land opportunities. This soil valorization policy is part of an approach of Combating urban sprawl.

Air quality

With pollution peaks that are constantly multiplying, the issue of air quality is more worrying than ever. ADEME has therefore launched several years ago in the fight against pollution inside and outside homes. It obviously involves awareness-raising.

The role of ADEME is to encourage the population, in this case businesses, to give priority to renewables, and to adopt less polluting consumption patterns.

If you have a small business, SME, PMI, or a large company, ADEME offers methodological and technical support for setting up projects in line with its field of expertise. In addition to various financial grants, it makes its expertise available to you for making informed decisions in the context of climate and environmental protection. It supports solutions such as the “low carbon label” or the “Diag Eco-Flux”.

By helping you reduce your energy bills, it acts in favor of the fight against environmental and climate pollution.