In March, French startup SolarinBlue deployed offshore PV in the Mediterranean Sea, 1.5 km from the French port of Sète.
According to the French government's Department of Statistics and Research (SDES), France has a cumulative installed capacity of just 13.2 GW of photovoltaic power by September 2021 and 14 GW by 2022, making it the third largest installed capacity in Europe.
Despite this high ranking, France still lags behind hydro and wind power in 2021.
According to French forecasts for 2022, France's overall PV capacity will increase to 20 GW by 2026, averaging out to 2 GW per year from now on. This means, of course, that PV will become the number one renewable energy source in France in the coming years.
The French incentives for PV are still relatively well in place.
The French government offers detailed incentives for solar PV, such as a feed-in tariff for household PV, which allows energy producers to sell electricity at a higher price than the market. Another incentive offered by the French government is to support PV systems for own use and to increase grid surpluses, but only rooftop PV installations up to 100 kW peak are eligible for funding.
In light of the above, more than 70% of respondents to the 2022 French Domestic Solar Customer Survey expressed confidence in solar power. This confidence is reflected in the increase in the number of household PVs, which is growing rapidly, particularly in the segment of the household market with a power of less than three kilowatts.
In addition, the French government's policy on PV is relatively strong. In the area of distributed PV, last November the French Senate favoured that from July this year it will be mandatory to install distributed PV in car parks, a market demand for this segment of around 11GW.
In February last year, French President Macron unveiled France's goals for the development of the photovoltaic industry: by 2050, France wants to achieve 100GW of installed capacity.
In addition, by 2030, France will invest €1 billion to encourage the local production of photovoltaic cells and modules and offshore wind turbines. The French government believes that industrial self-sufficiency in the production of renewable energy equipment will create a large number of jobs and, more importantly, reduce dependence on foreign supply chains.
In addition to this, France will add 14 new nuclear power plants by 2050. During Macron's visit to China, CNNC and EDF signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a "Forward-looking study on nuclear energy for low-carbon development".
Macron pointed out that nuclear energy is one of the two pillars of the country's energy security, while the other pillar is renewable energy, led by solar and wind power. Macron said that renewable energy needs to be developed "on a large scale" because these technologies do not take years to start generating electricity, unlike nuclear reactors.
Macron's speech was welcomed by the local solar energy association Enerplan. As the country's photovoltaic sector has been virtually disbanded over the past few years, everything must now catch up.
Macron's renewable energy plans, while ambitious, are still dwarfed by those of his eastern neighbour Germany - which has already installed 60 GW of PV. Germany's targets are also more ambitious and its timetable more urgent: it plans to deploy a total of at least 200 GW of installed PV by 2030!