Interactive EurObserv’ER Database - Country policy schemes

The renewable energy objectives in France are defined by the 13 July 2005 law which plans that 10% of the French energy needs will be insure by renewable sources by 2010. All three targets are clearly defined in order to meet the overall objective. Firstly, the share of national renewable electricity production should reach 21% of the electricity consumption by 2010. In 2007 this share is about 12,8% (source: the 10th worldwide electricity production from renewable energy sources). Secondly, a 50% increase in the heat production coming from renewable sources. And thirdly, a 7% increase in the share of biofuels used for transport. The french government, in the framework of the annual investment in electricity production (PPI) in 2006, details the means used to achieve the development goals of renewable energy production.
Two important instruments have been put in place to fulfil the objectives. A system of purchase prices for the renewable electricity sector and an income tax credit (reimbursement by the tax departments) for household equipments.
The law named ‘Grenelle 1’ was adopted on firt lecture at the National Assembly on an almost uninimous vote on October 2008. This law confirm the willingness of the country to diversify its energy sources and meet the long-term target of 20% of renewable energy by 2020. This orientation law will be followed by a technical implementation calles "Grenelle 2".

Other means of encouragement such as, the reduced sale tax of 5.5% (if the equipped host building is more than 2 years old) and the accelerated investment depreciation for companies are still available.

An eco-loan 0% interest is also possible for thermique renovation of old buildings as well as tax advantages for buyers of low energy consumption households.

Calls for projects for the production of renewable electricity

Calls for national or regional projects are useful mechanisms to generate momentum in a particular sector. The administration of national calls for projects is entrusted to the Energy Regulation Commission (CRE) and monitoring of projects is done in collaboration with the Energy Minister. National calls for projects since 2003 have related to:
· 2003 and 2005: construction of biomass centres,
· 2005: construction of land-based wind farms,
· 2006: construction of cogeneration biomass centres,
· 2009: construction of cogeneration biomass centres and construction of land-based photovoltaic centres in each French region (total power 300 MW).
Other calls for projects are being prepared, in particular for the construction of biomass centres (call for projects renewable each year) and the construction of land-based wind farms in the Overseas Departments and Corsica (with forecasting and storage system) and of sea-based wind farms (installation of significant power levels, in selected areas, optimising connection conditions).
The case of biomass illustrates the potential in calls for projects in terms of performance
requirements. Each call for projects is the occasion to specify, in the technical specification, the performance criteria to be achieved. The current call for projects has therefore emphasised the securing of the heat outlet, which maximises the energy performance of the projects, and of the biomass supply system. These two measures enable savings in resources and the anticipation of possible use conflicts. It is planned to renew annually the call for projects for the construction of biomass centres, adapting the specification to technological progress, to the maturity of the sector and to the sources of biomass available (wood waste, slurry, green algae, etc.)

Biomasse heat

Heat Fund

Launched in December 2008, the Heat Fund was implemented in order to support the production of heat from renewable resources and recuperated energy. This system of support for investment is one of the commitments of the Grenelle Environment Forum and is made concrete by Article 19(4) of the Grenelle I law. It has a budget of around one billion euros for the period 2009-2011. The aim of the Heat Fund is to support, between 2009 and 2020, the production of renewable heat up to 5.5 Mtoe, or more than a quarter of the renewable energy production target set by the Grenelle Environment Forum (an additional 20 Mtoe by 2020).
The Heat Fund mainly supports the development of the use of biomass (forestry, agriculture, production and thermal recovery of biogas, etc.), geothermal energy, heat pumps and solar thermal. The sectors concerned are collective housing, tertiary, agriculture and industry. By encouraging the heating networks to resort to renewable energies, the Heat Fund will also have an important impact in social terms (reduction and stabilisation of heating bills of essentially social housing) and in terms of diversification of energy supply.
Intervention methods
The Heat Fund is managed by the ADEME and takes the form of a subsidy.
The Heat Fund intervention methods are:
•    for large scale biomass facilities (production of renewable heat greater than 1 000 toe/year) in the industrial, agricultural and tertiary sectors, annual national calls for projects. This procedure will be annually renewed over at least three years. The first call for projects was launched on 5 December 2008, and the results were announced on 19 October 2009. On the same day, the second call for projects was launched;
•    for all other sectors, and for biomass facilities not falling under the calls for projects, the Heat Fund is managed by the ADEME at regional level. It complements aid currently granted in the context of State-Region Project Contracts (CPER) (cf. description below).
•    The Heat Fund may not be combined with any other of the aid systems presented here, nor with the energy saving certificate system, with the exception of other public subsidies for which the project will be eligible and which would then be taken into account during the economic calculation (local authority aid (CPER), aid from ERDF, the Energy performance plan for farms, the Waste policy support plan).

    Technical specifications

Sector	Orders regulating the purchase of electricity	Duration of contracts	Example of prices for facilities in service at the date of publication of the orders
Household waste except for biogas	28 December 2009	20 years	4.5 euro cents/kWh + optional bonus between 8 and 13 euro cents/kWh granted according to the power rating, resources used and efficiency, and adjusted according to the latter
	16 April 2002	15 years	4.9 euro cents/kWh + energy efficiency bonus between 0 and 1.2 euro cents/kWh
Raw or processed according to the latter animal waste (meat and bone meal)	28 December 2009	20 years	4.5 euro cents/kWh + optional bonus between 8 and 13 euro cents/kWh granted according to the power rating, resources used and efficiency, and adjusted according to the latter