Paris has set the share of renewables in gross final energy consumption to 570 TWh (out of a total of 1381 TWh). The National Integrated Plan for Energy and Climate of the Ultralps aims at at least 5.5 GW per year of photovoltaic, 1.5 GW a year of wind onshore and 8-10 GW of wind offshore by 2026. On the nuclear side, the government is cautious about SMRs
The EU Commission had asked for at least 44% renewables in France’s PNIEC
If it passes the EU Commission’s examination, PNIEC France will receive a 6 political. Paris sent its Plan to Brussels on 10 July, finally indicating the target for renewables on gross final energy consumption. Until now, the French government has always refused to include it despite the RED III requirement. And it was crawling behind a smoky target on “low carbon” sources, a way to keep nuclear under the same hat. However, the final version’s target for RES (Renewable Energy Sources) is much lower than Brussels expected.
PNIEC France, renewables to 41.3% by 2030
The French PNIEC expresses the new target in terms of production. And it sets the share of renewables in final energy consumption at 570 TWh out of 1,381 TWh. In other words, iron prices are expected to rise to about 41.27% by the end of the decade. According to the latest consolidated data of Eurostat, for 2022, the share of French RES reaches 20.26%.
These numbers are also lower than the minimum threshold established with the revision of the RED Directive. The new legislation stipulates that the binding target at the European level will rise from the 32% set by RED II to “at least” 42.5%, with a collective commitment to reach 45% by 2030.
Furthermore, the French target is significantly lower than the Commission itself suggests. In the recommendations sent based on the 1st draft of the French PNIEC, the Community executive called for “significantly increasing the ambition of a share of renewable energy sources to at least 44% as a contribution to the Union’s binding renewables target for 2030”. On the other hand, France will only reach 23% this year, as required by RED II: 4 years late.
More in detail, on photovoltaic Paris expects to accelerate the pace of new installations to “at least” 5.5 GW annually with a goal of 7 GW per year, balancing between rooftop C&I, residential and utility-scale on the ground. The PNIEC France also cites more significant support for agrivoltaic and rapid identification of acceleration areas, as well as “renewable pact” specific to each industrial sector. On wind onshore, the target is set to 1.5 GW per year, while for wind offshore Paris aims to 18 new GW by 2035 of which already 8-10 by 2026.
Nuclear energy in the French Climate 2030 Energy Plan The PNIEC France then confirms the government’s line on the renewal of nuclear energy discussed in recent years. The Plan cites three pairs of new EPR2 reactors at the head of the state utility EDF, whose final investment decision is expected in 2025. And by 2026, consider expanding the fleet with eight more reactors, always EPR2.
also read France also adopts its CCUS strategy: 8.5 Mt per year by 2030
Alongside the new installations, Paris expects to continue its assessments on extending the operational life of existing nuclear plants beyond 50 years and also beyond 60 years. By 2030, from the oldest plants, the target is to a production of 400 TWh (includendo il sito di Flamanville).
Then there is the SMR chapter. On modular mini-reactors – so dear even to the Italian government that it made them the pillar of the nuclear scenario included in Italy’s PNIEC 2030 – Paris is rather cautious. The PNIEC only talks about reaching the target of the Nuward project, with an operational SMR by 2030. We add at least one prototype of a more innovative reactor, always for the end of the decade.
Read here the Integrated National Plan for Energy and Climate of France.
