Emmanuel Macron

HyPoint has teamed up with Germany’s BASF to develop high-performance fuel cell membranes for use in its hydrogen fuel cell system while Italian gas transmission system operator Snam has launched a program to support startups along the entire hydrogen value chain, and French President Emmanuel Macron said that small modular reactors and green hydrogen are two of the country’s development objectives to 2030.

The retroactive FIT cut proposed by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition has now reached the French parliament. Around 300 companies of the PV sector have asked the MPs to reject a measure that could destroy investor confidence for years.

KilowattSol CEO Xavier Daval has criticized the absence of references to solar in the French government’s post-Covid recovery plan, which has allocated €30 billion to the energy transition. The head of the PV technical advisory says solar must become more central to France’s strategic choices and China must not be allowed to retain its near-monopoly on PV panel manufacturing.

The French government will use around €9 billion of its new €30 billion global investment package to support the development of a hydrogen economy, as part of the country’s Covid-19 recovery plan.

Franc Raffalli, president of the Photovoltaic Professions Group of the French Building Federation spoke to pv magazine about the impact of the coronavirus on the French PV industry.