Wind turbines are France’s latest’ top priority’. On April 21, the French government adopted a new multi-year energy program into law that mandates the number of wind turbines to be 20,000 by 2028. (Currently, there are 8,000).
That same week, the country submitted its final 2030 National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) to the European Commission. It states that France aims for 40% renewables in the power sector by 2030, with half of it potentially coming from the wind energy.
The Plan is ambitious but outlines realistic targets and measures to ensure an energy transition away from fossil fuels. It anticipates that there will be up to 34.7GW of onshore wind power (and 5.2-6.2 GW offshore) feeding into the grid in 2028. Floating wind energy is expected to become cheaper as well.
To facilitate this, the government intends to provide a simplified legal framework for permitting of wind farm projects. By “simplified,” it means it will reduce the permitting duration. Furthermore, farms with wind turbines reaching the end-of-their operational lifetime should be first reutilized for repowering.
Not all talk was about wind, however. The Plan also lays out thorough electrification measures. The laws regarding transportation are tailored to ensure the country reaches its goal of having all new vehicles be zero-emission by 2040. This includes a conversion grant for low emission vehicles and a vehicle bonus-malus depending on emission. Those regarding heating and cooling assess that 6.8 million units in individual homes and 2.2 million units in collective buildings should be electric by 2028.
In addition to these recent acts of sustainability reinforcement, the Prime Minister has announced plans to shut down the Fessenheim power station before the end of 2020 and to half the share of nuclear power by 2035, and it aims to replace that nuclear electricity production with renewable energy sources. The Plan is known as la programmation pluriannuelle de l’énergie (PPE)
Furthermore, coal-fired power plants in Gardanne, Saint Avold, Cordemais, and Le Havre have to close by 2022. New renewable energy projects, particularly wind power, will make up for the shortfall of power generation when this happens.
Now all that remains is implementation.
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