Compagnie nationale du Rhône

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Compagnie nationale du Rhône

logo
legal form Société Anonyme
founding May 27, 1933
Seat Lyon FranceFranceFrance 
management Yves de Gaulle (CEO)
Website www.cnr.tm.fr

Elevation profile of the Rhône below Lake Geneva with the barrages built and operated by the CNR

The Compagnie nationale du Rhône (CNR) is a French energy supply company based in Lyon that produces electricity from the hydropower of the Rhone .

The CNR was founded on May 27, 1933 and in 1934 received the exclusive state concession for the canalization of the Rhône with regard to navigability and energy generation on the basis of the law ( loi d'aménagement du Rhône ) of May 27, 1921. In 1935, construction work began at the river port of Lyon ( Port Édouard Herriot ), only in 1980 the Rhône was navigable from Lyon to the mouth for large inland vessels. From 1937 to 1948, the CNR built its first hydroelectric power station, the Génissiat dam . 18 more followed by 1986.

Today, the CNR operates 19 hydropower plants along the Rhone with a total work of 16 billion kilowatt hours per year. This corresponds to around 3% of French electricity production and 25% of the energy generated from hydropower in France . The CNR is the second largest electricity producer in France after the EDF . It has been independent from EDF since 2002 and has been selling its electricity itself since 2004. It is therefore also EDF's most important competitor on the French electricity market.

When the French energy industry was nationalized in 1946 and the EDF was established, the integration of the CNR was also planned. At the initiative of the President of the CNR, Léon Perrier, and the Mayor of Lyon, Édouard Herriot , this was postponed to a later date, which has not yet occurred. Nevertheless, the majority of the CNR is publicly owned: the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations holds 29.43% of the shares and various local authorities hold 20.62% of the shares. The Belgian energy supplier Electrabel has been a private minority shareholder since 2003 with a stake of 49.95%.

Web link