France launches a “battle plan” to try to catch up on solar power

“We must now accelerate, to move to 6 GW of additional capacity per year – that is to say double what we are doing today,” declared the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire after a visit to a photovoltaic park in Manosque, in the south of the country.

France had added 2023 GW of additional capacity in 3,2, after an increase of 2,7 GW in 2022, a very slow progression given the country's massive decarbonization needs, for a total of 19,3 GW of solar production, mainly in three regions: Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie and Rhône-Alpes.

However, in its energy roadmap published at the end of November, the government brought forward to 2035 (instead of 2050) the objective of achieving 100 GW of solar production.

All we have to do is roll up our sleeves. "The subject is not to know whether or not we want to massively use photovoltaics. The subject is to know how we are going to do it, at what speed, with what industrial sector", launched Mr. Le Maire, announcing the launch of a “solar pact” with the players in the system who will be encouraged to buy and produce in France.

This is the first time that the minister, a self-confessed pro-nuclear, has made a trip on the theme of solar energy, an energy that the French “love” and are “ready to welcome” close to home, he said. in an implicit parallel with the opposition to onshore wind turbines.

“Induscore”, like Nutriscore

The objective is to "produce in France by 2030 40% of the photovoltaic panels that we use", said Mr. Le Maire, who was accompanied by the Minister for Industry and Energy, Roland Lescure.

According to his office, the "solar pact" proposed to players in the sector - manufacturers on one side and customers on the other - is based on "solidarity" to boost the purchase of "made in Europe", or even "in France". ", and the construction of factories in the territory.

In exchange for purchases in France, the State undertakes to "massively support the development of solar energy in France" by reinforcing the criteria on the "carbon content" of the panels in calls for tenders - a panel produced locally will thus be best rated.

“We are opening the signature bar for two months,” says Roland Lescure’s office. Already 29 players have signed, rather "agile and motivated developers" like Neoen, or "motivated" companies who want to transform their abandoned land into photovoltaic fields, like the SNCF.

Bruno Le Maire asked “major contractors” like TotalEnergies, Engie or EDF to also commit to this “solar pact”.

The project is all the more sensitive as the country expects the installation by the end of 2025 of two giga-factories for solar panels (Carbon in Fos-sur-mer and HoloSolis in Sarreguemines). They are in the process of "submitting their building permits", according to Mr. Lescure's office.

Bercy wishes to encourage the installation of factories specialized in this or that part of the panel manufacturing process.

For this, it is preparing to launch an "Induscore" on the model of Nutriscore in food, with a grade A, B, C, D or E, corresponding to the percentage of manufacture of the panel in Europe: A, if 4 at least steps are carried out in the European economic area, and E, if it is imported from a country outside Europe.

Furthermore, a decree on agrivoltaism, negotiated at great length, to regulate and encourage the installation of photovoltaic projects on agricultural land must be published this weekend in the Official Journal.