France approves new climate law, including several measures to support PV

From pv magazine France

France's Climate and Resilience Law was officially promulgated and published in the nation's official journal yesterday. It aims in particular to improve the air quality of large cities, support building renovation, promote electric mobility, fight against ground concretization, and integrate more vegetarian menus in canteens. “It is a comprehensive and ambitious text that permanently anchors ecology in our development model,” said Barbara Pompili, minister for the ecological transition, in a press release. “We are now focused on the next step: introducing the secondary legislation to concretely translate the measures of the text into the daily lives of the French.”

Regarding solar photovoltaic energy, several measures could have a direct impact on the development of projects in the years to come. These include a cost reduction for the grid connection of PV systems not exceeding 500 kW in size, and the solarization of new buildings.

According to the text, as of January 1, 2023, new commercial and industrial buildings, as well as warehouses and hangars of more than 500m² and office buildings of more than 1,000m², will have to solarize 30% of their surface. As of January 1, 2024, new car parking areas of more than 500m² will have to solarize 50% of their surface, and 100% if carports are present in the area.

The law also includes streamlining the authorization process for installing solar power plants on wasteland in coastal areas and the possibility of launching calls for tenders for large scale storage and hydrogen projects in metropolitan France.