“We must now accelerate, to move to 6 GW of additional capacity per year – that is to say double what we do today.” The visit to a photovoltaic park in Manosque seems to have boosted the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, who launched on Friday a “battle plan” to support the production of solar panels made in Europe in the face of industrial ultra-domination from China.
France today produces 19.3 GW of solar, mainly in three regions: Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie and Rhône-Alpes. However, in its energy roadmap published at the end of November, the government plans to achieve 100 GW of solar production in 2035. And the rate of progress is currently around 3 additional GW per year. To reach 6 GW, we must therefore double the rate.
“Solar Pact”
“The subject is not whether or not we want to massively use photovoltaics. The subject is to know how we are going to do it, at what speed, with what industrial sector”, launched Bruno Le Maire, announcing the launch of a “solar pact” with the actors of the system who will be encouraged to buy and produce French . The objective is to “produce 40% of the photovoltaic panels we use in France by 2030”.
This is the first time that the minister, a self-confessed pro-nuclear person, has made a trip to the theme of solar energy, an energy that the French “love” and are “ready to welcome” close to home, he said in an implicit parallel with opposition to onshore wind turbines.
Agrivoltaism and “Induscore”
Bercy wishes to encourage the installation of factories specialized in this or that part of the panel manufacturing process and is preparing to launch an “Induscore” on the model of Nutriscore in food, with a grade A, B, C, D or E, corresponding to the percentage of manufacturing of the panel in Europe: A, if at least 4 steps are carried out in the European economic area, and E, if it is imported from a country outside Europe.
Furthermore, a decree on agrivoltaism, negotiated at great length, to regulate and encourage the installation of photovoltaic projects on agricultural land must be published this weekend in the Official Journal.