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French feed-in tariff approved
Although a long awaited French feed-in tariff finally has been
approved, the impact will probably be minimal
The Ministre de l'Industrie et du
Commerce, the French industry ministry, finally published a
€0.15
($0.13) per kilowatt-hour PV feed-in tariff on March 13, nearly half a
year after it was first announced (see PI 11/2001, p. 12). But Bruno
Gaiddon of Hespul, an NGO supporting renewable energy in France, says
that even when combined with a rebate approved in January (see PI
2/2002, p. 11), the impact on PV installations will be negligible.
While the feed-in tariff is quite low compared with Germany, where
investors get
€0.48
($0.42) per kilowatt-hour, the French
€4.60
($4.00) per watt rebate might have made the deal attractive to
customers. Unfortunately, the administering organization, Agence de
l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Énergie (ADEME), the French
environment and energy management agency, has only budgeted 1 MW for
each of the program's three years. In addition, overseas departments,
the rebate will get 1 MW for the first year, 2 MW for the second, and
3 MW for the third. France currently has about 500 kW of
grid-connected PV.
As in Germany, the feed-in tariff level is guaranteed for 20 years and
also has a digressive factor, with the kilowatt-hour amount decreasing
5 percent annually. Systems installed in 2003 will get 5 percent less,
those set up in 2004 another 5 percent less. The French scheme will
cover residential systems up to 5 kW, non-building systems (such as
noise barriers) up to 150 kW, and commercial and public buildings up
to 1 MW. The tariff has a double value of
€0.30
($0.26) for installations on Corsica and in French overseas
departments. Gaiddon says Hespul, which would prefer a higher rebate
with net metering, is trying to make the current subsidy mix a
campaign issue in May's national elections.
William P.
Hirshman
© PHOTON International, April 2002
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