French Renewables Lobby Wants More Offshore Wind Power in Policy Review

 

On Friday the French government will submit a renewable energy investment plan to the Conseil Superieur de l'Energie (CSE), a consultative industry body.

 

The government will then incorporate some or all of the CSE's recommendations into a long-awaited decree that will implement the broad outlines of France's energy transition law, which was voted through last summer.

 

The Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables (SER), France's main renewables lobby, said it was generally satisfied with targets set for renewables capacity in the years ahead but the government was not ambitious enough for offshore wind.

 

The government aims to have 3,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore capacity installed by 2023 and wants to have up to 3,000 MW of new projects by then.

 

SER president Jean-Louis Bal said the government should quadruple that post-2023 target to up to 12,000 MW.

 

"The government wants lower costs for offshore wind but lower costs can only come with higher volume," Bal told reporters.

 

France lags other EU nations on offshore wind power, despite its long coastlines. It has accepted two tenders to build a combined 3,000 MW from consortiums led by EDF and Engie but the first turbines are not expected to be installed before 2020.

 

At the end of 2015 Europe had a combined installed offshore wind power capacity of 11,000 MW, of which more than 5,000 MW is in British waters, 3,300 in Germany and 1,300 in Denmark, according to data from the EU industry's lobby group EWEA.

 

France's transition law specifies that 40 percent of the country's electricity production should come from renewables by 2030, while the share of nuclear in power production should fall from the current 75 percent to 50 percent.

 

But the government has made no actual move towards closing any nuclear plants and Energy Minister Segolene Royal has said she is not ready to submit a multi-year investment plan for the nuclear industry, which is operated by state-controlled EDF.

 

Critics say that adding renewables capacity while maintaining nuclear output at current levels will only swell the already large overcapacity in French and EU power generation.

 

"Looking out to 2023, we think renewables and nuclear can co-exist," Bal said, adding that the government had not yet decided on the future level of nuclear output.