CRE Mission in Martinique

After a presentation of the Martinique context (institutional context, economic situation, decreasing population and high unemployment rate), this report proposes a presentation of the situation of the electric power system: a production fleet characterised by a low rate of renewable energies and a bipolar territorial distribution, an electricity transport network which needs improvements, and an electric power system which is characterised by a structural instability due to its bipolar configuration and a low global inertia. In a second part, the report discusses the governance of energy: restructuring, focus of intermittent renewable energies, structuring role of the bagasse/biomass plant, EDF as an unavoidable actor of energy transition. The next part outlines that, apart from the photovoltaic sector, the development of renewable energy projects identified within the PPE remains limited (the situation of the various renewable energies and faced challenges and issues are addressed: local biomass, sea energies, geothermal energy, waste processing, wind energy, hydro-electricity). After having noticed that the conversion of gas-fuelled thermal plants can only be economically envisaged at the regional level, other aspects are addressed: the management of electric power demand, the development of energy storage and the participation to system services.