With a power of 26 kW, it produces 132 000 kWh annually, equivalent to 30% of the electrical needs of the water production plant. The energy obtained is marketed through a contract with EDF.

The design and installation of this micro-turbine is the result of a collaboration between the Saur group, specialist in water management, and Hydrowatt, the Lyon operator of hydroelectric turbines.

Made by the Spanish company Perga and marketed by Saint-Gobain Pont-à-Mousson, specialist in piping systems, the turbine is installed on the network at the same level as the pressure reducers to produce electricity from the water’s kinetic energy.

Others could be installed in Annonay, due to a large drop creating the necessary pressure. “There are hundreds of thousands of places where we could place some,” says a former manager of Saint-Gobain PAM company. In France, other municipalities will soon install it, like the city of Hyères, in the Var.

This is a “very emblematic project of energy transition,” said Olivier Dussopt, former mayor of the city and current Secretary of State to the Minister of Action and Accounts.

The government is in the process of drafting the energy roadmap of France by 2028, called the Multiannual Energy Program (EPP), initially expected at the end of June but whose presentation has been postponed to November.