Biovallée: transition at the service of economic development
October 2024
Réseau pour la transition énergétique (CLER)
By looking after its water, sun and wind, Biovallée has become one of France’s most attractive regions. As a member of the Positive Energy Territories network, its territorial transition approach is contributing to its development.
What is Biovallée? First of all, it’s a geographical area, the Drôme catchment basin, covering 2,200 km², 94 municipalities and 3 communities of municipalities. It’s also a history, the story of a rural exodus followed by a renaissance driven by organic farming, with the quality of the Drôme’s water as its banner, now the cleanest river in Europe. This is yet another proactive development project. Centred on the ecological transition, it was included in the Grand Projet Rhône-Alpes (or GPRA) in 2009. Finally, it is an association under the law of 1901, created in 2012 to bring together all the players involved in this exemplary dynamic, which needs to be expanded. It was when I visited the small Austrian region of Vorarlberg thirty years ago that I realised, along with a few others, that a rural area could both preserve and develop its natural resources,’ recalls Jean Serret, one of the association’s historic architects and now President of the Communauté de Communes du Val de Drôme. It is by using this dual lever that we have collectively rebuilt our history and that we are now a territory.
Committed local operators
Among these resources, renewable energies occupy an important place. Facing East-West at the gateway to Provence, the Drôme valley enjoys exceptional sunshine on one of its slopes. Situated at the mouth of the Rhone corridor, it is not short of wind either. The Drôme valley is therefore open to photovoltaic and wind power projects. But there’s no question of leaving the direction and benefits of these projects solely to private operators serving sometimes distant interests.
The Val de Drôme Community of Communes has set up its own semi-public company, SEM Val de Drôme Développement, or ‘V2D’, which is already a shareholder in four photovoltaic projects and one wind farm. Alongside the other two Biovallée communities of communes, it is also investing in the cooperative energy operator DWatts.
By virtue of its size and mode of governance, DWatts complements the region’s strength in terms of transition by supporting rooftop photovoltaic projects and wood-fired heating systems, the production of which can be sold or self-consumed within a short radius. If we add to this its actions to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, it is directly involved in the objective of reducing energy consumption by 50% by 2040. It is also fully in line with the Positive Energy Territory initiative, which aims to produce as much energy in the region as is consumed. Like the local authorities, DWatts is a beneficiary of the national Territoire d’Innovation funding obtained by Biovallée. This gives it even more strength to support local activity and employment alongside them. We used to be the poorest area in the department, but now we have the highest median income and the lowest poverty and unemployment rates,’ concludes Jean Serret. When I ask our many newcomers why they chose us, 9 out of 10 answer: ‘because we want our children to grow up here’. What better recognition could there be?