Energy planning: the adoption of a moratorium on wind and solar power raises fears of an economic and climatic catastrophe

The future of the text, which also provides for a massive revival of nuclear power, is now uncertain.

MPs are due to vote on Tuesday in the first reading of the entire bill, known as Gremillet, which came from the Senate.

Several pro-Rebellious MPs have called on the Macronist rapporteur of the text and the government, asking them to call for its rejection.

The moratorium adopted on Thursday, "I say this with gravity and solemnity, is completely irresponsible" and "devastating," lamented Industry Minister Marc Ferracci, deploring the "signal" sent to industrial players.

This moratorium is an "economic catastrophe," added the rapporteur of the text, Antoine Armand (Renaissance), while rejecting the request for immediate withdrawal of the text made by the left.

The amendment by LR MP Jérôme Nury, which would involve the suspension of any new wind or photovoltaic projects if the law is promulgated, was narrowly adopted in the afternoon by the right and the far right, in the face of the depleted benches of the left and the central bloc groups (Renaissance, Horizons, MoDem).

"The absence of the central bloc and the left, in the main, has allowed this drift," conceded Socialist MP Dominique Potier.

Throughout the debates, the National Rally has consistently denounced wind and solar power as expensive and "intermittent" energies.

This moratorium "is at the heart of Marine Le Pen's project," welcomed RN MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy.

RN victories

On Wednesday, the National Rally had already achieved a victory with the inclusion in the text of the restart of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, which was closed in 2020.

"While a programming law is designed to provide stability and perspective, it only creates instability," Marc Fesneau, president of the MoDem group of deputies, lamented on Thursday.

The text "is now a serious threat to the climate," the environmental group blasted in a statement, denouncing an assembly that had descended "into absurdity."

This bill had been placed on the Assembly's agenda under pressure from the National Rally, which had made it a reason for censure of the Bayrou government.

It is intended to serve as an indicator for the government to finalize a decree setting out France's new energy roadmap for the period 2025-2035.

This decree should put the country on the path to carbon neutrality by 2050.

The government had, however, warned that it would publish this decree before the end of the summer. This would presumably mean that the text would be definitively adopted, which is due for a second reading on July 8 and 9 in the Senate, where the right-wing party has a majority.

"Clarification"

The text provides for a massive revival of nuclear power, maintaining the installed capacity for nuclear electricity production (currently 63 gigawatts), and increasing it by 27 gigawatts by 2050.

To achieve this, the construction of 14 new reactors is underway by 2030 (France currently has 57).

On renewable energies, the text plans to increase, by 2030, the share of decarbonized energy in energy consumption in France to at least 58%, compared to around 40% currently.

A socialist amendment adopted stipulates that of the 560 terawatt hours (TWh) of carbon-free electricity that must be produced in 2030, "at least 200" must be "from renewable sources."

A narrow victory for the left, which failed to get quantified targets set for each sector (wind, hydraulic, solar, etc.).

The socialist amendment was adopted with the votes of all groups, including LR, against the far right.

Questioning LR, the party behind the subsequent moratorium, LFI MP Matthias Tavel asked: "How can we produce 200 terawatt hours of renewable electricity without wind power (...) and without photovoltaics?"

Mr. Armand also asked for "clarification" from the LR deputies on the dissonance between their two votes.

"A collective suicide" denounces Rousseau

Green Party MP Sandrine Rousseau expressed her outrage on Friday at the vote the day before by the right and far right in the National Assembly for a moratorium on wind and photovoltaic energy, calling it "collective suicide."

"What has been happening over the past few days is incredibly dangerous," lamented Sandrine Rousseau on RMC. "It's a form of collective suicide that we are organizing," she added, evoking "something psychological" in this "refusal to see the ecological challenge."

"Scientists keep warning us in a thousand and one ways, and in fact, we make absolutely contradictory decisions," she lamented.

As much of France enters a heatwave, "in the chamber, climate scepticism is triumphing," she said indignantly.

On Thursday, MPs completed their examination of a bill on the future of energy, which is intended to serve as a guide for the government to finalize a decree setting out France's new energy roadmap for the period 2025-2035.

Promising "blood and tears" on this issue, Sandrine Rousseau assured of her willingness to "fight so that we take the turn we need to take, so that we live up to our responsibilities, enough of this irresponsibility, enough of this behavior of adolescents who do not want to face the problem."

Energy programming law: solar and wind power must find their place according to the SER

As the National Assembly continues to examine the proposed law on the national energy and climate program for the years 2025 to 2035, the amendments adopted so far could exclude solar and wind energy (onshore and offshore) from the country's future energy program. It is urgent to reintroduce these strategic sectors into the bill, otherwise the energy and social consequences will be disastrous.

The amendments adopted by the National Assembly stipulate that the country's energy policy "proposes an annual target for the production of carbon-free energy" and that "carbon-free energy is produced from nuclear, hydraulic, tidal, geothermal, aerothermal, biomass, osmotic and kinetic installations."

This statement leaves aside, in a great burst of technological denialism, the two renewable sectors which are developing most rapidly in the rest of the world: solar and wind.

Do we really want France to be so ignorant of the reality on the ground? Do we really want the offshore wind industry, which currently has several component production sites across the country, to sink into the twists and turns of political machinations? Do we really want the solar industry, which provides additional income to the agricultural sector and which local authorities are keen to develop throughout France, to disappear? Do we really want to give up the opportunity to host photovoltaic panel and cell production sites in our country, when several industrial projects are underway?

These are the questions the renewable energy sector wishes to address to MPs. The Renewable Energy Union (SER) is calling on the government and the rapporteur to reintroduce these three sectors (solar, onshore wind, and offshore wind) into the energy programming law by way of amendment. This is a matter of technological realism, France's credibility, and investor confidence.

For Jules NYSSEN, President of the SER: "We have reached a critical threshold, that of the credibility of political action. Defining France's energy future by deciding, through pure political convention, that solar and wind power should be excluded from the equation is completely irresponsible. Our economic sector solemnly requests the Government and the rapporteur, who are the only actors capable of still submitting amendments at this stage of the text's examination, to make proposals to avoid a real energy aberration."

For France Renouvelables denounces "the largest social plan ever voted on in the National Assembly"

In a sparsely populated chamber, the National Assembly voted on an amendment that would establish a de facto moratorium on wind and solar energy in our country.

In a context where the elements voted on sometimes border on the absurd, such as the reopening of Fessenheim, the vote on this amendment, argued with the support of false elements, objectified many times, is in reality the vote on one of the largest redundancy plans decided by the National Assembly. It leads directly to the destruction of 80.000 jobs established in France in companies established in the country and which contribute greatly to the reindustrialization and energy sovereignty of France. Reindustrialization and sovereignty that these same political groups nevertheless have on their lips, from morning to night.

The paradox of this vote is all the more absurd, as this moratorium would literally take all French people hostage for at least the next 15 years, by deliberately locking our country into its deep dependence on imported fossil fuels. Recent events demonstrate every day that this dependence links our energy destiny to geopolitical events beyond our control, and that this ideological obsession with opposition to renewable energies is leading France down the path to being placed under supervision and downgraded.

France renouvelables therefore solemnly calls on the government, and all members of parliament motivated by the public interest, to draw the consequences of this vote and reject, with force of reason, any form of moratorium on sectors which contribute greatly to ensuring the energy sovereignty of our country, whose full costs and impacts are known, documented and transparent and which have amply demonstrated their competitiveness.

For Anne Catherine De Tourtier, president of France renouvelables: "Our energy program is too serious a subject for moratoriums to be decided in an empty chamber, based on objectively false arguments. France renouvelables invites the national representation to return to reason, to support "true" energy independence based on energy sources in our territories and not on massive imports. We call for a wake-up call and not to let some decide for everyone!"

Enerplan says "stop ideology and political cooking!"

The Senate's proposed energy and climate programming bill, known as the "Gremillet" bill, was balanced and coherent. During its review, the National Assembly completely destroyed this balance and coherence. In particular, it adopted, by way of amendment, a moratorium on "the examination, authorization, and installation of any new electricity production facility project using mechanical energy from wind, onshore, or offshore, as well as photovoltaic solar energy." This means an immediate and indefinite halt to any deployment of new wind or solar power generation facilities.

This amendment was adopted in a sparsely populated chamber by 65 votes to 62. It is in total contradiction with another amendment, adopted on the same day, which obliges France to increase its share of renewable electricity production by 30% by 2030, which requires a considerable increase in solar and wind power plants.

This would be comical if it weren't extremely serious. It will be devastating for the hundreds of projects underway in the regions, whether they are led by communities, businesses, or even households. Thousands of companies in our country, which create value that cannot be relocated to the regions and which employ 150.000 people, will disappear. The photovoltaic gigafactory projects are threatened!

This amendment from the National Assembly is added to other equally absurd amendments, which make this proposed law a legislative "monster" which, for ideological reasons and political considerations, seriously undermines France's long-term interests.

Enerplan regrets that the MPs, who admirably demonstrated during the Schellenberger-Armand Commission the deleterious effects of ideology and political tactics on France's energy policies, are falling into the pitfalls they have denounced. Building an energy policy that meets the challenges of sovereignty, competitiveness, and decarbonization our country faces deserves better than this.

At a time when, after decades of opposition, a consensus is emerging in France on the need to expand the electrification of uses by relying on the two pillars of nuclear power and renewable energies, first and foremost solar power, Enerplan solemnly calls on MPs not to vote for this law.

For Daniel BOUR, president of Enerplan: "The proposed moratorium is not serious. Neither in substance nor in the way it was adopted by a three-vote majority in a three-quarters empty House. And it is completely out of touch! It is in total contradiction with the reality on the ground, with the projects currently being pursued by communities and businesses that want to secure their electricity supply through solar self-consumption and participate in the energy transition. I call on MPs to mobilize by voting against this bill."

The FFB and the GMPV-FFB oppose the freezing of the photovoltaic sector

Despite months of consultation between the photovoltaic industry (including the GMPV-FFB) and government departments to adapt market conditions to current budgetary constraints, parliamentary groups are seeking to impose a brutal and incomprehensible moratorium on solar photovoltaics with immediate effect.

The explanatory memorandum is based on a series of untruths! This is all the more regrettable since the amendment in question concerns the "national programming law and regulatory simplification in the energy sector"...

How can France's energy policy be planned on the basis of amendments passed on the sly, aimed at destroying a sector that has been patiently built up for 15 years now?

However, the advantages of installing photovoltaic panels on buildings are no longer in doubt: rapid return on investment for the project owner, creation of local jobs that cannot be relocated during installation and maintenance, enhancement of the building, unanimous acceptance by the general public, etc.

FFB members have invested heavily in training and recruitment, as well as in their production capacity, to meet market demand, fueled by strong government signals sent in recent years. Today, FFB entrepreneurs and artisans face the risk of a collapse in activity, putting tens of thousands of direct jobs at risk.

The FFB and the GMPV-FFB solemnly request the withdrawal of this deadly amendment, which runs counter to the current economic and energy issues.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.