It has 500 jobs in research, distributed between CEA, CNRS and local universities. Some 900 students are enrolled on higher education courses at Grenoble-INP, UJF and UPMF. Jobs in industry total about 10,000 jobs, in firms such as Air Liquide and Axane, Alstom, Atos Origin, Photowatt, Schneider Electric, MGE UPS SYSTEM, Sogreah and Gaz Electricité de Grenoble. There are also a large number of subcontractors involved in metal-working, information technology and sotfware, instrumentation and mechanical engineering. All in all the area is ideally placed for new energy technology to become one of the most promising growth sectors in the years to come.

Rooted in a highly diversified scientific and industrial fabric of international standing, new energy technology in Grenoble-Isère can draw on long established know-how and skills in electrical engineering, physics, materials science, electrochemistry, hydroelectric power, chemistry, microelectronics and computer science.

Since the end of the 19th century the economic and technological development of Grenoble-Isère has been based on the growing importance of energy technology, initially based on hydroelectric and then nuclear power.

In 1869 Aristide Bergès, the first Frenchman to harness hydroelectric power, started using the energy produced by mountain streams. His discoveries led to the development of a wide range of activities related to electricity production: turbines, penstocks, cables, electrical equipments, etc., marking a major turning point in the region's industry. After the second world war France's Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) took over a former army artillery range on the outskirts of Grenoble. It built first one then two nuclear reactors, providing the basis for experimental work carried out by the physicist Louis Néel, who specialized in magnetic bodies.

The two activities - hydroelectric and nuclear power - led to the acquisition of a wide range of specialist know-how in Grenoble-Isère universities, research centres and firms such as:

• Neyrpic, turbines manufacturer, now Alstom
• Merlin Gérin, electrical equipment manufacturer, now Schneider Electric
• The municipal service of the Eclairage and the distribution of Energy Gaz and Electricity (now Gaz Electricité de Grenoble), producer, supplier and distributor of energy
• EDF and GDF

Solar energy

Of all the renewable energies - hydraulic, wind, goethermic, biomass and solar energy - the last one is particularly attractive because it is abundant and faily venly spread over the planet. It allows delocalized production of electrical (photovoltaic) and thermal energy, for use in housing and business premises. It consequently has an immense potential market.

Rhône-Alpes and more specifically Grenoble-Isère have a number of major assets in this field: several firms, including Photowatt in Bourgoin Jallieu; research laboratories, notably CEA-Liten in Grenoble; engineering schools, of which Grenoble-INP.

Once building work complete in 2007, the National Institute of Solar Energy (INES) in Savoie will bring together several research teams from CEA, CNRS and CSTB alongside local firms.

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Hydrogen and fuel cells

Grenoble-Isère has opted to focus in particular on hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies targeting applications in transport and static uses.

This sector has all the necessary components to achieve quality development: CEA with its Laboratory for new energy technology (Liten), the universities, CNRS and firms such as Air Liquide and Axane.

Together they form a well established talent pool.

In all there are 200 people working in public research in hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies. Grenoble-Isère is one of France's top research centres in this sector.

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Micro energy sources for mobile devices

Embedded micro energy sources stand at the crossroads between technology advances in micro and nanotechnology and electrochemistry for energy materials. Researchers in Grenoble are developing micro energy sources, by taking advantages of their microelectronics know-how, applying to fuel cells the same fabrication techniques as for printed circuits and using materials more commonly associated with microelectronics, in particular for thin-film deposition.

Increasingly small portable electronics devices demand correspondingly small power supplies delivering greater reliability, more power and longer life. The priority markets are consumer devices, primary cellphones and notebook PCs, but targets also include applications in defense, healthcare and security.

Micro energy sources for mobile devices are a highly specialized field with potential for massive growth, benefiting from Grenoble-Isère's internationally recognized assets in micro and nanotechnology.

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Smart energy management

Grenoble-Isère can draw on potential unique in Europe, in information technology, electronics, and the production and distribution of electricity. It was here that hydroelectric power started in France, prompting pioneering development of energy technology. It now boasts a large number of industrial, scientific and academic players, who have joined forces to work on smart energy management. At a crossroads between technology, and contemporary economic, social and environmental issues, smart energy management concerns both distribution equipment and computer infrastructures, from energy sources to end users.

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