France officially rejects proposal to suspend development! Good news for solar and wind power projects

The French National Assembly recently rejected a proposal to suspend the development of large solar and wind power projects.

According to the latest voting results on June 19, the amendment proposed by the right-wing party "National Rally" was finally not passed with 377 votes against and 142 votes in favor, ending the policy uncertainty that lasted for nearly a week.

The proposal, called the "Grémillet Energy and Climate Planning Law" (PPL Grémillet for short), was passed on June 19 with a narrow advantage of 65 votes in favor and 62 votes against, driven by the right-wing party "National Rally".

According to Enerplan, the French solar industry association, the bill is a direct response to another amendment passed by the French National Assembly-the amendment requires that by 2030, the proportion of renewable energy in France's energy structure will be increased to 30%.

France Renouvelables, the French renewable energy association, posted on LinkedIn: "The text of this bill has become extremely contradictory and dangerous. If passed, it will permanently damage France's energy future. Due to the moratorium on renewable energy electricity, the bill will continue to make France deeply dependent on imported fossil fuels in an extremely uncertain geopolitical situation."

"With extremely low parliamentary attendance, the veto after a week of debate marks the beginning of a return to rationality on energy issues. We hope that this rationality can guide future policy discussions."

The industry association also issued a joint statement with other national industry associations in France, Enerplan, and the French Renewable Energy Alliance (Syndicat des énergies renouvelables), calling on French senators to pass the previously agreed version of the bill based on the principles of "wisdom, balance and rationality."

The statement pointed out: "The rejection of the energy planning bill, as reported by the media, shows the broad support of French society for solar and wind energy."

"Now that the situation is clear, the government must issue the implementation details of the Multiannual Energy Plan (PPE) as soon as possible - this is the only policy tool that can restore industry visibility and confidence, ensure long-term investment security, and maintain France's energy sovereignty."

The Multiannual Energy Plan mentioned in the statement was released earlier this year, in which the French government revised the 2035 photovoltaic installation target: in the next decade, France plans to achieve a total photovoltaic installed capacity of 90GW, and between 2025 and 2027, the annual new installed capacity will increase from the original planned 3GW to 5.5GW.

Tendering will still be an important means to achieve these goals. Multiple tenders will be carried out for ground power stations and rooftop photovoltaic projects between 2025 and 2035. Among them, ground power stations will hold two rounds of tenders, each with a planned tender capacity of 1GW, while the tender capacity of rooftop photovoltaic projects will be reduced from 400MW to 300MW. The adjustment is based on the results of three rounds of rooftop PV bidding during 2024-2025, in which the actual winning capacity was less than 260MW each time.