Economical, environmentally friendly and efficient, urban cooling systems are being promoted as a future solution to increasingly hot summers in France, provided they are designed to withstand the most severe heatwaves, according to AFP.
To cope with the increasingly intense heatwaves, urban cooling systems are booming: these centralized systems produce and distribute ice water via pipes to cool buildings.
The government targets to double the capacity of these infrastructures by 2030.
France currently has only about 50 cooling networks in total, a level described as modest.
The two companies, Engie and Veolia, launches 100 potential studies to accelerate urban district cooling networks in France.
In its annual assessment published earlier this month, the High Council on Climate (HCC), a French government body responsible for the national climate change fight, estimates that “the development of cooling networks is particularly interesting” in order to “reduce” the use of air conditioners and “the impacts of urban heat islands.”
During the June heatwave in France, infrastructure was pushed to its breaking point, with power grids forced to restrict nuclear plant outputs due to cooling water constraints.
“The problem is that in Paris you have cooling facilities sized for a maximum temperature of 35 degrees,” explains engineer Pascal Stabat, professor of energy at the Paris School of Mines, to AFP.
“When it is very hot, there is an imbalance between cooling production and demand, so the production can be a bit low,” he continues.
Between June 18 and 27, maximum temperatures exceeded 35 degrees every day in Paris.
