Energy Audit on Ouessant - ESIN audit on Ouessant 1! ... (70%),!followed!by!electricity!(pro ducedontheislandwithoil) ... treatment! residues,! hotels! and! res

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ENERGY AUDIT ON OUESSANT

Christian Pleijel [email protected] Tel +358-‐457-‐342 88 25

2015-‐10-‐30


The Créac’h lighthouse

Energy audit on Ouessant 1 Introduction 2

2 Abstract 3

3 Facts 4

4 The culture and identity of Molène 12

5 Optimism 13

6 Pessimism 14

7 Opportunities 15

8 Action Plan 16

9 Sources 17


2 (17) ENERGY AUDIT ON OUESSANT

1 Introduction In 2015, Ouessant joined the SMILEGOV1 project through its membership in l’Association Les Îles du Ponant (AIP) and subsequently in the European Small Islands Federation (ESIN). The objectives of SMILEGOV, funded by the European Commission, is to establish a clear picture of the island’s energy consumption, its emissions and how it is it supplied with energy, moving into an action plan for a more sustainable future, and to invite the island to join the Pact of Islands2. Process

Being late arrivers in the project, the work has been focused on understanding the documented situation of Ouessant and to use this knowledge to enhance the total project knowledge of small islands energy needs and solutions. This report has been compiled by Senior Advisor Christian Pleijel, Vice Presi-‐dent of ESIN (European Small Islands Federation), with the kind help of Denis Bredin, Director of the AIP. There are excellent data on energy and emissions on Ouessant in the AIP docu-‐ments “Profil Énergie et Gaz à effet de serre – Ouessant” (2014), “Transition Énergétique des îles du Ponant – Ouessant”( 2014) and “Atlas des îles de l’Atlantique (2009), prepared with the help of GIP Bretagne Environnement. ESINs project manager has visited Ouessant several times most recently in July 2015 and has used the documents mentioned above, his own observations and interviews to compile a portrait where the island is observed from six different perspectives, a method described and used in his book on the small islands of Europe3: (1) Facts, (2) Identity and culture, (3) Optimism, (4) Pessimism, (5) Opportunities, and (6) Actions. The reason for not solely describing the energy and mobility situation on Ouessant is that issues as energy and mobility are closely related to tourism, trade & industry, transports, healthcare, culture, schools and demography. Islands are miniatures of the world, solitary, clearly separated from the main-‐land by the sea. Being small, distant and vulnerable, an island needs to plan and develop itself in a cohesive and continuous manner, handling the complexity of local, regional and European politics, combining micro and macro scale. September 2015, Christian Pleijel and Denis Bredin 1 http://www.sustainableislands.eu/ 2 http://www.islepact.eu/html/index.aspx 3 http://europeansmallislands.com/how-‐to-‐read-‐an-‐island/



2 Summary Baseline Year 2011 Population 888/1,546 residents E N E R G Y C O N S U M P T I O N Sea transports 18,670 MWh Road transports 322 MWh Industry 0 MWh Fishing 322 MWh Residential 8,048 MWh Tertiary 4,507 MWh Sum of energy consumption 31,868 MWh Per capita/888 35,888 kWh Per capita/1,546 20,619 kWh 4 E M I S S I O N S Transports: 5,075 tonnes CO2e Road transports 170 tonnes CO2e Industry 0 CO2e Fishing 135 tonnes CO2e Residential 3,823 tonnes CO2e Tertiary 2,695 ton nesCO2e Sum of emissions 11,898 tonnes CO2e Per capita/888 13,4 kg CO2e Per capita/1,546 7,7 kg CO2e 5 L O C A L E N E R G Y P R O D U C T I O N Wind 0 MWh Solar 0 MWh Geothermal 0 MWh A C T I O N P L A N To save 2,181 MWh and 1,418 tonnes CO2e per year and to produce 5,500 MWh local renewable energy per year.

4 The European average is 28.439 kWh/person/year 5 The average on Finistère mainland is 7,7 kWh/person/year



The Iroise Sea

3 Facts3.1 Geography

The French mainland’s furthest out-‐post in the west is Ouessant (called Ushant in English). The island is a rocky landmass some 8 by 3 km with a total area of 15 km2 in the Iroise Sea on the French side of the English Channel. These dangerous waters are amongst the most troublesome in the world, with 10-‐knot tidal stream and nu-‐merous sharp reefs both over and under the water surface.

The world’s strongest lighthouse beacon, Phare du Créac’h, which can be seen from 60 kilometres away, is located here, as the oldest Breton lighthouse built in 1699, Phare du Stiff. Phare du Créac’h was built in 1863, when the railway reached the coasts, preserve factories were built and ocean-‐going traffic demanded safe navigation. Winters on Ouessant are mild whereas summers are cool. The tem-‐perature is about 10 degrees in win-‐



ter, in summer rarely more than 30 degrees. 3.2 Population

The population numbers 888 in win-‐ter (2013). It has been reduced by half since 1968. In summer, the population is at least 2,0006. The number of second homes was 360 in 1990 and is now reaching 500 in 2015. There are about 150,000 one-‐day visitors per year to the island. Summertime, the number of visitors can be over 1,000 a day, thus about 100,000 during summer. The capacity to welcome visitors is 2,300 guest beds meaning the tour-‐ism density is 153 beds/km2. The human pressure on the island’s fresh water system, on energy sup-‐ply, on sewage and waste handling, postal services, healthcare, rescue, roads and ferries is calculated as fol-‐lows: Residents (365 days)

888 324,120 days

Summer res (45 days)

2,000 90,000 days

Visitors (1 day)

150,000 150,000 days

Sum 564,120 days

6 ”Les îles du Ponant comptent aujourd’hui une population permanente de 15.724 habitants, multipliée par 6 en haute saison.” Marie Lan-‐guille ”Tourisme et accessibilité dans les îles du Ponant” (2010)

564,120 man-‐days divided by 365 gives 1,546. The number of people using Ouessant is, technically speak-‐ing, equivalent to a population of 1,546. That is the average number of people being on the island any day of the year, moving around, eating, drinking, producing garbage, litter and emissions, sometimes needing help and healthcare, asking transpor-‐tation to and from the island. 1,546 people is the base for calculating the island’s ecological footprint. From an infrastructural and a sustainability perspective, Ouessant has a popula-‐tion of 1,546 people, not 888. This human presence is very uneven since the island sociobiotope is used by thousands on summer days but by hundreds in winter. Still, the island has to have a system that can handle its total population, being oversized and overexpensive much of the time.

The Mairie

3.3 Governance

Administratively, Ouessant is a commune of the Finistère depart-‐ment of Brittany Region, situated in north-‐western France.



The Mayor

Denis Palluel is the mayor of Oues-‐sant. He is also the chairman of the French islands off the Channel & At-‐lantic coast interest organization Les Îles du Ponant founded in 1971. 3.4 Trade & Industry

There are 62 enterprises on Oues-‐sant whereof 4 hotels with 47 rooms but also 1 camping with 100 em-‐placement, a youth hotel with 40 beds, 6 restaurants, 1 boulangerie, 1 bookshop, 3 groceries, 3 banks, 1 electrician, 4 masons, 2 garages, 1 hairdresser, 1 doctor, 1 dentist, 3 nurses and 1 pharmacy7.

7 http://www.journaldunet.com/management/ville/ouessant/ville-‐29155/entreprises

Enterprises on AIP islands. Ouessant is 3 from left

The dominating trade is tourism. During the last 50 years, the number of visitors on Ouessant has increased dramatically, due to a combination of (i) a general increased desire to ex-‐plore natural environments, and (ii) the liberalization of passenger transport services in 1990, which resulted in increased summer ferry passenger carrying capacity. The annual number of ferry passen-‐gers increased from 5,000 in 1950 to 150,000 in 2005, with a constant annual increase of some 2,500 pas-‐sengers during the last 20 years and no signs of levelling-‐off in the near future. High season runs from the second week of July to the end of Au-‐gust, with a peak in August (48% of annual visits). On an annual basis, more than 50% of visitors take a more than 1-‐day excursion to the island; they are mostly interested in the spectacular coastline scenery, which they discov-‐er by following paths around the is-‐land.



The number of enterprises on Ouessant has de-‐

creased (but the number of new businesses is high) Food prices are about 5% higher compared to the mainland. 3.5 Public Service

As described above, there is a doctor, a dentist, three nurses and a phar-‐macy on the island. There is a house for elderly people (maison d‟accueil pour personnes âgées). In 1976 Ouessant along with Batz, Molène, Sein, Groix, Houat and Hoëdic created the Collège des Îles du Ponant (CIP), a network school with a capacity for about 100 students, a combination of 26 travelling teachers and distance learning adding support of every possible internet tool. The students at CIP Ouessant have their own website at http://lewebpeda-‐ gogique.com/cipouessant/bonjour-‐a-‐tous/. There is a post office and a postman on the island.

3.6 Freshwater

There is a large freshwater well in the middle of the island. Freshwater is pumped to the nearby water treat-‐ing station which has a capacity of 600 m3/day, and then to two reser-‐voirs: Lanvian and Merdy. Lanvian built 1965 holds 30,000 m3, Merdy built 1976 holds 20,000 m3. There is also a water tower. The water is distributed through a main water conduit of 49 km’s length and side conduits 944 km long.

The water treating station

In December (as in all low season months), the need for water is about 3,500 m3, in July (and in all high sea-‐son months) over 10,000 m3. The big consumers are the house for elderly people, and the two big hotels (1,000-‐1,500 m3 each). In winter, the system has a buffer for three days, in summer for one day.8

8 Alimentation en eau et Assainissements sur les îles du Ponant, AIP 2010



Enez Eussa III comign into la Baie du Stiff

3.7 Transports

Ferry companies Pen Ar Bed and Fin-‐ist'Mer connect to the island every-‐day from Le Conquet, Lanildut, Brest and Camaret. The crossing takes be-‐tween 40 and 90 minutes, depending on the port of embarkation and the type of ferry. The main pier of the island is on the port Stiff 3 km from the town of Lampaul. It is also possible to fly to the island from Brest-‐Guipavas Airport with Finist'Air company which offers daily connections. The crossing takes 20 minutes with a Cessna Caravan air-‐craft for 9 passengers. Taxis are available at the arrival of the ship or aircraft as Ouessant is not a car-‐free island. 3.8 Energy Use

Ouessant island uses 31,868 MWh a year9.

9 2,775 tonnes of oil equivalent (TEP) according to ”Profile Énergie et Gaz à effet de serre -‐ Molène” (Fevrier 2014)

Of this, 58% is used for transports, mainly between the island and the mainland and for traveling to and from mainland ports connected to these journeys. 9% is used for local sea transportation, 2% for transport of goods and only 1% for local land transports since the distances are short on Ouessant.

Energy sources on Ouessant



Oil is the island’s main energy source (70%), followed by electricity (pro-‐duced on the island with oil).

Use of oil on Ouessant

Oil is used mainly for transports and accounts for 69,9% of all energy use on the island.

Use of electricity on Ouessant

Electricity is used mainly for residen-‐tial and tertiary use, accounting for 22,5% of the island’s total use of en-‐ergy. Typically 60 per cent of the energy consumption of a Ouessant house-‐hold is for heating, about 20 per cent is for hot water (shower, dishes etc.) and the remaining 20 per cent is used for household electricity devic-‐es such as fridge, washing machine, lighting, TV, computers and other devices.

The total energy cost on Ouessant was 3,036,402€ in 2011 which means 3,419€ per capita (counting 888 inhabitants in this case). The tertiary sector uses 14% of the total energy used on Ouessant = 900 MWh, and causes 22% of the green-‐house emissions. 3.9 Local Energy Production

Electricity arrived on the island of Ouessant in 1939 with the installa-‐tion of generators to power the Cré-‐ac'h lighthouse. This plant also sup-‐plied electricity to residents from 1953 to 1970. From that date, the current EDF power plant near the town, took over. Today, the fuel oil plant comprises four generators with a total installed power of 300 kVA and serves 5 1053 clients. The annual electrical needs of Oues-‐sant was 5,866 MWh in 2014. In the 1970’s, in view of the signifi-‐cant consumption of fuel and oil after the first oil crash, the will of the elected representatives of the island and institutional to reduce depend-‐ence on oil, has resulted in the instal-‐lation of a wind turbine erected first on the south coast. The latter has unfortunately been reversed in July 1980, a few months after its con-‐struction. A second turbine was mounted in September 1986, with the support of EDF and ADEME. Giv-‐en the disturbing vibration, wind did not turn and was dismantled in March 1990.



Ouessant is a non-‐continental island in the interconnected electric net-‐work. The electricity is produced by a power plant fuel and Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity is much greater than for connected Is-‐lands (1.1023 kg of CO2 per kWh produced on connected islands and 0.777 kg CO2 produced per KWh on non-‐connected islands). 3.10 Emissions

The emissions from the island con-‐sist of sewage, waste and greenhouse gas (CO2-‐equivalents), of which the latter should be balanced against Ouessant’s ability to store carbon. (a) Sewage The sewage system of Ouessant counts 258 branches extending to 1,385 households plus the water treatment residues, hotels and res-‐taurants. The number of clients rec-‐orded at the sewage treating station is 1,230 inhabitants whereof 330 all year and 900 seasonal).10 The sum of sewage on the island is 180 litres x 1,546 inhabitants x 365 days = 10 million litres. Most of it is grey water (from showers, bath, dish and washes), a smaller part is black-‐water from toilets comprising bacte-‐ria, nutrigents and medicine spill. In 2009, 7,9 tonnes was separated from the sewage pumped to the sta-‐

10 Rapport annuel de Veolia (2007)

tion and the purified water pumped into the sea at Porz Kenzy. (b) Solid waste Ouessant produces 906 tonnes of solid waste a year. Half of it is com-‐posted, the rest is collected in recy-‐cling facilities centrally in the har-‐bour and moved to the mainland. Recirculated waste comprises 100 tonnes of plastic, 54 tonnes of news-‐papers, some 150,000 aluminium cans and 46 tonnes of glass. There is no glass crusher or paper baler on the island, which might me useful given the distance to and cost for transporting waste to the mainland. The amount of waste is more than a tonne per capita and year (counting 888 inhabitants). (c) Greenhouse gas11

11 Human emissions of CO2 have augmented from 270 ppm to 380 ppm in 100 years. Parallel to this, the average temperature on Earth has increased with almost 1oC. We call this the ‘greenhouse effect’, gases contrib-‐uting to this are carbon dioxide (CO2), nitro-‐gen oxide (NOx), methane (CH4), freones, water steam and ozone. Carbon dioxide is the most frequent by volume with 379,64 ppm (2015). Although the degree of me-‐thane is low, methane is 25 times more effi-‐cient than carbon dioxide in producing heat. This is why all gases should be included in discussions on temperature changes and possible actions on lowering their effects. In order to measure this, CO2-‐equivalents (CO2e) are used, which define the amount of any greenhouse gas needed to produce as much heat as CO2. One kilo of methane gas has the same effect as 21 kg carbon dioxide.



12,000 tonnes of CO2e/year totally from Ouessant

On Ouessant, the total yearly emis-‐sions of greenhouse gas is 11,898 tonnes of CO2e. Transports to and from the mainland are causing 34%, followed by residential use of energy (31%) and the tertiary sector – tour-‐ism, that is (22%). Since Ouessant is not connected to a grid, electricity is produced with oil. Due to this, a building on Oues-‐sant produces twice as much greenhouse gas as a building on the mainland. A typical Ouessant home has an area of 69 m2 and use 25 MWh/year.

73% of energy used in Ouessant homes is for heating

The 216 residents use totally 2 GWh each and are responsible for 33% of the emissions. All in all, a habitant of Ouessant emits 14 tonnes of CO2e a year.

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Christian Pleijel [email protected] Tel +358-‐457-‐342 88 25

Three simple drawings

4 The culture and identity of Ouessant 4.1 Three simple drawings In her study of social and subjective aspects of islands, Professor Françoise Péron presents three drawings – cartes mentales – of d’Ouessant. The first is a drawing made by an islander, depicting what is important for an islander: the airport, harbour, lighthouses and the school. The second is made by a summer resident, depicting what is important for him or her: the roads, excursion routes and the town. The third is made by a visitor, and depicts the ferry, flowers and grazing sheep. In clear simplicity, these three draw-‐ings show how the island is per-‐cieved differently by different peo-‐ple.

4.2 The distance to Ouessant

The percieved and the real remotenss of Molène

Ouessant is quite remote counted in kilometres but it is even more dis-‐tant counted in time. The distance from Brest to Le Conquet harbour is 32 kilometres which takes half an hour with a car or the bus. That is an average speed of 58 km/h including traffic lights, passing villages etc. The distance from Le Conquet har-‐bour to Ouessant is 14 nautical miles (26 kilometres) which takes an hour and ten minutes as the ferry’s speed is 12 knots (22 km/h). Should you travel at 90 km/h from Le Conquet to Ouessant, you would land 150 kilometres out at sea. People are used to voyage at 90 km/h and per-‐ceive the distance to be much greater and the island to be much more re-‐mote than it really is, which affects their notion of Ouessant as a place to live.



View from le phare du Stiff towards Lampaul, la Grand Roche and phare de la Jument (to the left)

5 Optimism A program to curb energy consump-‐tion and produce renewable energy was implemented in July 2009 by the Regional Councils of Brittany and Finistere, French energy provider EDF and the French National Envi-‐ronment and Energy Agency (ADEME). The inhabitants of Ouessant have received energy-‐efficient light bulbs

and water savers free of charge. They are also benefitting from a 60% grant for the purchase of a more eco-‐logical refrigerator. The program aims at encouraging decentralized electricity production through re-‐newable energy up to 75KWp from photovoltaic panels. The program aims at Reducing Energy Consump-‐tion by 16%.



6 Pessimism Depopulation, an ageing population and sea level rise due to the green-‐house gas effects threaten Ouessant. The smallness of the island makes these threats even more dangerous.

Warning sign at the cliffs

The island is also under threat of overfishing and oil spills, having ex-‐perienced the Amoco Cadiz catastro-‐phe in 1978, releasing 1,6 million barrels of crude oil (223,000 tonnes) into the sea, hitting Ouessant with full strength, killing 20,000 sea birds and having a huge impact on marine life.

Oil spills around Bretagne

Other oil accidents include Torrey Canyon 1967 (123,000 tonnes), Gino 1979 (41,000 tonnes), Tanio 1980 (6,000 tonnes), Amazzone 1988 (2,100 tonnes) and Boelhen 1976 (2,000 tonnes( and Olympic Bravey 1976 (800 tonnes of oil), just off the coast of Ouessant.



A SABELLA turbine being lowered into the sea

7 Opportunities Molène, Ouessant and Sein are part of the “Transition énergétique des îles du Ponant ” project aiming at creating energy profiles of the is-‐lands, calculating emissions, making plans directed at coming to terms with the problems and possibilities found in making these profiles and emission calculations, and develop-‐ing action plans in close cooperation with the inhabitants of each of the islands. In july 2015 (plugged in during Sep-‐tember to Ouessant electric net-‐work), a SABELLA turbine12 was in-‐stalled on the seafloor in the famous tidal stream “Fromveur” between Ouesant and Molène, connected to Ouessant by a 2,000 meter underwa-‐ter cable. It is 17 meters high and

12 http://www.sabella.fr/fiche.php?id=112&lg=gb

weighs 400 tonnes, built for this hos-‐tile environment, pre-‐orientated in the direction of the tidal currents with a profile of its symmetrical blades helping to capture the ebb and flow. The rotor activated, at slow speeds (10 to 15 rpm), by the tides powers a generator, which exports the elec-‐tricity produced to the Ouessant’s coast via a submarine cable anchored and embedded at its landfall. Like wind turbines, a power conver-‐sion/transformation module regu-‐lates electricity produced by the var-‐iable speed generator to deliver an electric signal in compliance with the specifications of the local grid. The dimensions of the turbines are adapted to suit the bathymetry of the site to prevent disturbance to navi-‐gation and to keep the effects of swell to a minimum.



The SABELLA turbine fits best in sites with strong currents that are not areas suitable for deep-‐sea fish-‐ing (trawlers, pot haulers, gill-‐

netters). Not even line vessels, fish-‐ing for sea bass, operate frequently in the fromveur area .

8 Action Plan 8.1 Lowering energy consumption The actions planned for Ouessant in the ‘Boucle Énergétique des îles de la mer d’Iroise’ include: (a) Renovation of 70 houses, track-‐

ing people’s everyday consump-‐tion through operation ‘Trak o Watts des îles’, action FROID which is upgrading household machinery and LED lighting

(b) Smart use and stocking of ener-‐gy, taking peak hours in consid-‐eration

These actions are calculated to save 2,181 MWh and 1,418 tonnes CO2e per year.

8.2 Producing local energy Sabella D10 is a project of electricity production from a tidal turbine in-‐stalled in the Fromveur, in tidal cur-‐rents between Ushant and Molène exceeding 10 knots. The tidal park proposed by SABELLA and its partners is designed to be connected to the isolated power grid of Ouessat and will significantly de-‐carbonise electricity production on the island and diversify its energy mix (as described almost exclusively based on production oil). This project also helps to find energy solution for other isolated islands = a duplicable export. The project would reduce the annual consumption of the fuel oil thermal



power plant (more than 1 million litres of fuel oil per year). The project has three phases: 1st Phase: Experimentation: Immersion and connection to a test tidal Ouessant. Duration: 1 year -‐ June 2015 -‐ June 2016

2nd Phase: Experimentation on the steering and intelligent manage-‐

ment of energy consumption. Re-‐location of the tidal Sabella D10. Duration: 2 years -‐ in Sept 2016-‐Sept 2018

3rd Phase: Development of Hydroe-‐lectric Eussabella farm

This action is calculated to produce 5,500 MWh per year.

9 Sources Association Les ïles du Ponant ”Profile Énergie et Gaz à effet de serre -‐ Molène” (2014) Association Les ïles du Ponant ”Transition énergétique des îles du Ponant -‐ Mo-‐lène” (2014) Association Les ïles du Ponant “Alimentation en eau et Assainissements sur les îles du Ponant (2010) Colas, Sébastien: “Atlas des îles de l-‐Atlantique” (2009) Languille, Marie ”Tourisme et accessibilité dans les îles du Ponant” (2010) Communes insulares d’Ouessant, de Molène et de Sein: Dossier de candidature, Boucle énérgetique locale Photo page 11: http://www.parc-‐marin-‐iroise.fr/ Map on page 4: Le Parc Naturel Marin d’Iroise, Agence des Aires Marines Prote-‐gées (2008) http://www.bretagne-‐environnement.org/Media/Atlas/Cartes/Parc-‐naturel-‐marin-‐d-‐Iroise Map on page 11 by Michel Cloatre and Georges Pennec. Photo of SABELLA on page 14: http://en.france-‐energies-‐marines.org/

Documents

Energy Audit on Ouessant - ESIN audit on Ouessant 1! ... (70%),!followed!by!electricity!(pro ducedontheislandwithoil) ... treatment! residues,! hotels! and! res