Several projects to produce renewable energy are threatened by the increase in construction costs, which are “no longer covered by the purchase price of electricity or biomethane guaranteed by the State”, affirms the ministry in A press release.
Le Monde with AFP
The Minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, announced, Thursday, July 28, a first package of “emergency” regulatory measures to accelerate the development of renewable energies, which ensure “almost 20 % of needs electricity in 2022 “from resources available in France.
Several renewable energy production projects are currently threatened by the increase in construction costs, which are “no longer covered by the purchase price of electricity or biomethane guaranteed by the State”, specifies the ministry in a press release . This concerns 6 to 7 gigawatts (GW) for solar projects and 5 to 6 GW for wind turbines.
The first measures, which will be published in the Official Journal in the coming days, should make it possible to unlock projects or accelerate some before winter, period of early tensions on energy supply due to the consequences of the War in Ukraine.
Other measures by the end of summer
The first of them will allow quickly completed projects to sell their electricity at high prices – on the market for eighteen months before taking effect of contracts concluded in the context of tenders. This should make it possible to compensate for additional costs, according to the ministry details at the France-Presse agency (AFP).
A second measure must allow the indexing of the price of energy sold, so that it better reflects the increase in costs of future projects subject to the price counters, while a third must freeze the initially expected drop in prices For photovoltaic projects on buildings.
Finally, projects that have responded to calls for tenders will be able to increase their capacity by 40 %, without justification, before their commissioning. Projects for biomethane production facilities will benefit from an additional time to allow them to deal with the difficulties related to the health crisis and the supply problems.
Other regulatory measures for electrical or gas renewable energies are expected by the end of the summer, in addition to a broader law to accelerate the deployment of renewables.