france
February 2010 - New French Feed-in Tariff published
Awaited since many months, the new PV Feed-in Tariffs in France were published on 13 January 2010. They also apply for projects submitted during the last month.
Given the bubble that has formed since November 2009 due to the anticipated publication of the new tariff, the government has decided that the new Feed-in Tarrif will apply to projects for which the application for purchase of electricity dates from 1 November 2009, and for which there has not been a complete application for connection to the grid before 11 January 2010. On 1 January 2010, the rate of 58 c € / kWh, considered by the French government as "the highest in the world" was established to apply for “building integrated” systems, when integrated in residential, educational or health care institutions. For other buildings (office buildings, industrial, commercial, agricultural, etc.), the new tariff is 50 c € / kWh.
The building integration rules have been improved, so that the tariff fosters the most accomplished architectural and aesthetic solutions, and provides a good position to the industry and artisanal sector on an innovative and high value-added segment. These “building integration” tariffs are reserved to existing buildings (excluding the residential segment for which architectural and technical constraints exist for new and existing buildings).
Systems with "simplified building integration” will receive a new tariff set at 42 c € / kWh. The creation of this new tariff will encourage the development of solar PV on professional buildings (industrial, commercial, agricultural, etc.), where fully integrated building solutions are not always possible.
Ground-mounted systems will continue to benefit from the tariff of 31.4 c € / kWh. In addition, for ground-mounted systems with a capacity greater than 250 kW, the tariff will now vary from 31.4 c € / kWh for metropolitan areas in the sunniest to 37.7 c € / kWh for the less sunny areas. This modification was introduced to enable a better geographical distribution of solar power on the national territory. To ensure a positive introduction of solar power, preventing potential conflicts and improving the local consultation, a decree published on 19 November 2009 states that these facilities are required to submit an application for building permit, an impact study and a public inquiry.
The administrative formalities are simplified with the elimination of reporting requirements and of the certificate previously issued by DREAL / DRIRE (Regional building and environmental bodies). Only a simple declaration is now required to determine the tariff regime.
These new rates will remain unchanged until 2012. To raise the profile of long-term players, the decree includes an indexation formula which reduces the rates from 2012 onwards, which will adjust the level of support for changes in prices affected by technological improvement.
The new tariff schedule applies to new projects only. Projects for which a purchase contract with EDF has already been requested, or for which a purchase agreement has been signed, continue to benefit from the previous tariff.
