Solar and wind contribute billions to state finances, according to the sector

Over 2021 and 2022, these two energies should make it possible to save and/or bring more than 14 billion euros to national finances, according to estimates presented on Tuesday April 12, in between two presidential rounds, the outcome of which will also affect the energetic transition.

Renewables "don't cost, they pay off," says Michel Gioria, General Delegate of France Wind Energy (FEE), who denounces the "cookie-cutter" positions of certain politicians accusing wind power of being "expensive and useless".

This 14 billion includes 3,3 billion that solar and wind producers will return to the State for overpayment for 2021, and the 5,1 billion planned for 2022 that the State will not need to disburse. Added to this is an additional 6 billion net that will be paid by the operators of renewable electric energies, including 3,7 billion provided by wind power alone.

Why ? In France, renewable energies (ENR) are supported by a system of additional remuneration in relation to a "target" price. However, these energies have seen their costs fall, while the electricity market exploded, a surge in prices that should last for some time. An unexpected phenomenon, this support has therefore become a source of revenue for the State: operators now pay the difference between the market price and the target price.

At this rate, wind power should have repaid by the end of 2024 "everything it has received since 2003", or 11 billion euros, estimates the sector, which, for its estimates, worked with analysts from market and on the market development forecasts of the Energy Regulation Commission (CRE).

The sector suggests that the State reallocate these credits "so that they help protect the most vulnerable from the energy shock", and would also like it to make this known.

"We must + put the church back in the center of the village +: it is thanks to renewable energy that we can cushion the increase in the French electricity bill", says Jean-Yves Grandidier, the president of Valorem.

"Wind power actively participates in the preservation of purchasing power, in controlling the price of energy, in our energy independence, it is an essential lever that France cannot afford to do without", supports Anne- Catherine de Tourtier, the president of FEE.