Both public policy and research are showing growing interest in the relationship between cities and energy. This thesis examines how energy network operators participate in the development and implementation of local energy policies and the ability of urban policy makers to steer them in this direction. The issue is addressed from the perspective of alternative energy distribution actors in France, namely local distribution companies (LDCs). For over a century, these companies have been responsible for the distribution and supply of electricity and, in some cases, gas and heat in the municipalities that own them. Today, they are seen as innovative levers of action available to cities for developing urban energy policies. Focusing on urban operators, the thesis examines the situations of GEG in Grenoble and UEM in Metz. Despite their local presence, it is only in recent years that ELDs have given significant importance to the urban scale in their business strategies. The sectoral and centralized organization of the public electricity service has long held back ELDs, hindering the emergence of a specific approach to their concession territories. However, the restructuring of the economic model imposed by liberalization is leading ELDs to seek new growth drivers. Seizing opportunities linked to the agenda of energy and climate policies, they are demonstrating strong adaptability and developing new strategies that further enhance their urban roots. Long dominated by national sectoral approaches, local companies are thus increasingly involved in the development of urban energy initiatives. However, this urban presence does not make ELDs tools for governing urban energy policy, which would require municipal political actors to have the capacity to take initiative and steer policy according to their own objectives. Through an analysis of the examples of Grenoble and Metz, we show that the construction of energy as a local political issue is both gradual and heterogeneous, challenging the previously essentially economic and industrial approach to the management of local energy authorities. However, the ongoing politicization is hampered by the limited expertise of municipalities on energy, which are only very imperfectly able to integrate their energy and climate concerns into the strategic management of their local enterprises. On the other hand, the changes are much more significant at the operational level, in projects that involve partnerships around energy issues: territorial climate and energy plans, responses to national and European calls for tenders, coordination of distribution networks, etc. The analysis of the alternative territorial energy model for LDOs proposed in the thesis shows that the local status of operators is not sufficient for the development of urban energy governance, which also requires the politicization of energy issues and the development of appropriate expertise within urban political and administrative systems.
Keywords:
urban energy policies, local distribution companies, local semi-public companies, urban governance
Thesis defended on September 21, 2015
Special jury prize for the GRALE 2016 thesis award Doctorate: Spatial Planning, Urban Planning
Year of thesis registration:
2009
Doctoral school:
VTT – City, Transport and Territories
Composition of the jury
- Cyria Emelianoff, Professor at the University of Maine, ESO Le Mans (rapporteur)
- Alain Faure, Director of Research at CNRS, PACTE (rapporteur)
- Sylvy Jaglin, Professor at the University of Paris-Est, LATTS (director)
- Dominique Lorrain, Emeritus Research Director at CNRS, LATTS
- Jochen Monstadt, Professor, Technische Universität Darmstadt
- François-Mathieu Poupeau, Research Fellow at CNRS, LATTS (co-supervisor)
- Livier Vennin, Grand Paris Mission Delegate, EDF