From pv magazine France
The government has just launched a final public consultation on the third Pluriannual Energy Program (PPE 3) — the main strategic document guiding France’s energy transition — for the period 2025-2035, open until 5 April. What was feared by many stakeholders has been confirmed, as the targets for photovoltaic energy in the new version have been revised downwards. For 2035, they have been reduced from 75 GW to 100 GW (in the draft PPE 3 version of November 2024) to 65 GW to 90 GW (in the draft version of March 2025). For 2030, the goal would be 54 GW (compared with 25 GW installed to date), i.e. the low end of the 54 GW to 60 GW range submitted for consultation at the end of 2024.
Furthermore, as the law firm Gossement points out in an analysis of the text, this objective is now broken down between categories of installations (rooftop and ground-mounted): small and medium-sized rooftop arrays make up 41%; small ground-based installations 5%; and large installations making up 54%, with 38% ground-mounted and 16% rooftop.
Within this breakdown of the overall development target by category of installation, the PPE 3 does not include a target for the development of agrivoltaic and agricompatible installations.
The PPE 3 includes targets to develop the industrial solar sector and produce up to 10 GW of components in various strategic links in the value chain between now and 2035: 3 GW to 5 GW in the silicon value chain; 3 GW to 5 GW of ingots and wafers; and 5 GW to 10 GW of cells and modules. The latest draft does not include any precise indication of the future of public support for renewable energy production. Finally, the PPE 3 is not expected to include a specific objective for the development of self-consumption of renewable electricity.
In the appendix “What has changed following the 2024 consultation,” the change in the PV target is explained by the fact that “some stakeholders felt that the targets proposed for 2035 were too ambitious in view of the delay in the electrification of uses. Others, including the renewable energy industry federations, signatories to the Solar Pact launched by the French government in 2024, have called for these targets to be maintained or even increased. In its 2035 Generation Adequacy Report, French transmission system operator RTE proposes a high trajectory of 90 GW in 2035 (rate increased to 7 GW/year) and a low trajectory of 65 GW (rate maintained at 4 GW/year). The revised draft PPE 3 incorporates the trajectory proposed by RTE. In addition, it has been specified that the rate of PV development for the second period will be revised between now and 2030 in line with electricity demand.
Commenting on the changes in the latest PPE 3 draft, industry association Enerplan stated, “Lowering our ambitions for solar energy today, when it is available, competitive and can be rapidly deployed, would send out a new signal that contradicts our stated ambitions and would be out of step with the issues at stake at the time. France does not have ‘too much’ low-carbon energy: it still relies on fossil fuels for 60% of its consumption.”
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