Paris: Dalkia wins the “contract of the century” to heat a million residents

The “deal of the century”. The Paris Council validated this Wednesday, December 17, the concession of the capital’s urban heat network to Dalkia, a colossal market worth 15 billion euros over 25 years lost by the outgoing Engie, which contests this choice as does the municipal opposition.

Concluded three months before the municipal elections after five years of work, this “contract of the century” concerns the heating of nearly a million people in Paris and 16 neighboring municipalities (Asnières, Aubervilliers, Boulogne-Billancourt, Charenton-le-Pont, Choisy-le-Roi, Clichy, Gennevilliers, Gentilly, L’Île-Saint-Denis, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Ivry-sur-Seine, Le Kremlin Bicêtre, Levallois-Perret, Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen, and Vitry-sur-Seine), including all Parisian hospitals, supplied by an underground network of more than 500 km.

The city judged the offer from Dalkia, a subsidiary of EDF, better than that of Engie, delegatee for a century, with regard to the “massive greening” of the energy mix of the heating network it is proposing, explained Dan Lert, deputy in charge of ecological transition and energy.

Some 3.4 billion euros will be invested over 25 years so that the heat from the network – one of the largest in the world – is produced by 76% renewable energies, instead of the current 50% (waste incineration, biomass combustion, geothermal energy, etc.). A new incinerator will be built in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne). The equivalent of 200,000 additional homes will be able to abandon their gas or oil boilers, assured Dan Lert, who promises to “protect Parisians from the volatility of gas prices”.

“Lower bills”

“From 2027, 69% of subscribers will benefit from a reduction in bills, in particular for housing,” added the elected environmentalist. Arguments contested by Engie, which wrote to Parisian elected officials to put forward its offer, without however announcing an appeal.

The opposition for its part denounced the conclusion of such a contract just three months before the end of Anne Hidalgo’s mandate, which “ties the hands of the next municipal majority”, according to David Alphand, co-president of Rachida Dati’s group. The elected LR accused the town hall of “false advertising” on the reduction in prices, while the Horizons candidate for town hall Pierre-Yves Bournazel spoke of a “time bomb”.

The majority responded that the current concession would end on December 31, 2026. “This contract is the symbol of all the city’s hypocrisy on adaptation to global warming. The network has until now relied on 50% non-carbon energy and the city has not tried to do better. The 75% objective comes too late,” regretted Maud Gatel (MoDem).