5. Chausey Islands projects

5.1 1958 EDF project

The 1958 project was studied in detail by EDF during the 1950s and 1960s, then abandoned. The reason given at the time was that nuclear power, while not more economical, would enable the country's energy needs to be met more and more economically by building nuclear plants in large numbers. On the other hand, France's largest possible tidal power plant, on the Chausey Islands, with a capacity of 12 GW, equivalent to 9 nuclear reactors of 1,300 MW, and generating 25 TWh/year, would be built in a single unit.

To better situate the project in relation to other sources of hydroelectric power currently installed in France, the 1958 Chausey Islands project (figure