Renewable energies: what if we now celebrated the self-consumption rate rather than the MWh produced?

They claim that this development can be achieved at the cost of a low investment, that production equipment can be built quickly and thus meet the rapid growth in electricity use.

On the other side are the proponents of a centralized system. They criticize the former for promoting uncontrollable energy production, delivered to the public grid like wastewater to the sewer system, which leads to imbalances between electricity supply and demand. As a result of these disruptions, the rise of renewables is causing increasing price volatility, sometimes even negative prices—in short, a dead end.

How can we overcome these opposing forces?

The cost of electricity from renewable sources, and particularly photovoltaic, is low (around €1 per Wp), and the repayment of the energy debt incurred for manufacturing and installing the equipment takes between 1 and 1,5 years. While its production is not dispatchable, this is not enough to disqualify it, especially when it is developed in close connection with energy use.

Understanding these uses is not simply about talking in terms of MWh produced; it is primarily about considering their location and timing. In the French electricity production mix, the growing share of non-dispatchable renewables (in 2022, wind power represented 9,1% and solar 5,7%*) is compelling industry stakeholders to consider the use of the energy they produce, and the era favoring a purely production-oriented approach is coming to an end.

Producers of photovoltaic energy in particular must seek the highest possible rate of direct use of their production.

How to achieve it?

The shortest circuit should be favored: the one that directly links the producer to the consumer; this is also known as self-consumption. The producer precisely calibrates the generator's capacity to the consumer's needs. Direct perception of the availability or scarcity of electrical resources prompts the consumer to adjust their usage. This proximity between production and consumption creates a virtuous cycle that reduces the balancing burden on the public grid.

Let's recognize the undeniable societal benefits of self-consumption of electricity and liberalize its implementation. This concerns proximity criteria as well as the ability to easily bring together the needs of consumer communities to maximize the use of locally produced electricity.

(*): source ENTSOE, Eurostat, IEA & World Bank

Opinion piece by Michel Lerendu, Chief Financial Officer and co-founder of Faradae (LinkedIn).