The government wants a “battle plan” to boost Made in France 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.

France has accelerated the deployment of solar panels in 2023 with 3,2 GW of additional capacity, after 2,7 GW in 2022. In its energy-climate strategy published at the end of November, the government had set the objective of reaching 75 GW by 2035.

“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,” said the minister who was accompanied by Roland Lescure, Minister Delegate for Industry and Energy.

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.

“If we want to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050, we cannot wait until we have modernized our existing nuclear fleet or built new reactors,” the minister stressed.

Calling for a "battle plan" to deploy and produce solar panels in France, he announced several incentive measures: "revision of the eligibility criterion based on the carbon content of solar panels in the coming periods of the call for building offers”; establishment of a low carbon premium for certain panels; implementation of the new criteria of the European Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) regulation by the end of 2025. The objective is to “produce in France by 2030 40% of the photovoltaic panels that we use”, affirmed Mr. Le Mayor.

We need “more deployment and more land”, underlined the minister, who also announced the imminent publication of the decree on agrivoltaism. The government will also launch a call for expressions of interest for the installation of solar power on abandoned roads.

He called on companies and project developers to "make massive use of panels made in France" based on the "solar pact" launched Friday by Minister Roland Lescure, which aims to relocate the sector's value chain in France and in Europe. In this pact, the State undertakes to “massively support the development of solar power in France” by strengthening criteria on the carbon content of panels.