France Renewable Energy Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The French renewable energy market is expected to witness a CAGR of greater than 7.4% during the forecast period, 2022 - 2027. France has been one of the worst affected countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was the first to implement large-scale lockdowns and enact bans on the freedom of movement. As a result, renewable energy manufacturers and service providers reduced output significantly, and manufacturers further slowed down the value chain and felt the economic impact of the pandemic. Even though the country did not meet its specified renewable energy targets in 2020, there was an increase of 2GW of renewable energy installed capacity. However, in October 2021, the French Recovery Plan from COVID-19 was formulated, and the government announced a EUR 30 billion investment plan for 2030, including EUR 8 billion dedicated to energy technology investment in the decarbonization of industry. This has made a positive impact on the renewable energy market in the country. Major factors driving the market include declining lithium-ion battery prices and rapid adoption of electric vehicles due to the growing renewable sector. On the other hand, electricity generation from nuclear is likely to hinder the growth of renewable energy.

Key Highlights

• The solar energy segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period, owing to increasing solar PV installations across the country.
• Plans to integrate renewable energy with the national grids are expected to create a significant amount of opportunity for the renewable energy market in the near future.
• Electricity generation from nuclear energy is expected to restrain France's renewable energy market during the forecast period.

Key Market Trends

Solar Energy likely to Dominate the Market

• Increasing demand for clean energy sources is one of the primary drivers for the solar energy market in the country. The solar power capacity is set to continue expanding with a target of around 18-20 GW installed by 2023.
• In 2020, France's solar PV installed capacity accounted for more than 11.7 GW. Solar PV has over 21% share of the total renewable energy mix. This is due to increasing projects on solar energy across the country.
• France has announced a new 10-measure plan to accelerate the development of photovoltaics energy, featuring new and existing provisions. It is designed to support the installation of more than 3 GW per year throughout the country by the end of 2025.
• The country's Multi-Year Energy Program (PPE) plans to reach between 35.6 GW and 44.5 GW of solar power by 2028. The plan sets a target of 1,000 solar projects on public land by 2025 and particularly along motorways is expected to dominate the solar energy market.
• In February 2021, France's energy regulator, the CRE, launched its 10th tender for the construction of utility-scale solar PV projects exceeding 500 kW in size, with a total capacity of 700 MW, and is open till 25th June 2021. The French authorities are expected to allocate 450 MW for ground-mounted PV installations exceeding 5 MW in size, 180 MW for PV projects with an installed power of between 500 kW and 5 MW, and 70 MW for projects ranging from 500 kW to 10 MW, which will be built on parking shades.
• In November 2021, TotalEnergies launched its largest photovoltaic solar power plant in France, with a capacity of 55 megawatts (MW). The solar farm is located northeast of Gien (Loiret), comprising 126,000 photovoltaic panels spread over 75 hectares. The plant will produce around 64 GWh per year, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 38,000 people.
• In February 2022, France government announced plans to have more than 100GW of installed solar PV capacity by 2050. This is expected to drive the solar energy market in the country.
• Therefore, the aforementioned factors are expected to make the segment dominant during the forecast period.

Nuclear Energy to Restrict the Market Growth

• France has a very low-carbon electricity mix owing to its large nuclear fleet and stands as the second-largest nuclear energy producer after the United States. France has decades of history in electricity generation from nuclear energy starting before 1960, with more than 57 nuclear reactors spread over the country.
• In 2020, France produced over 338.67 TWh of electricity from nuclear power. Nuclear energy accounts for 70% of electricity from the total energy mix. High dependence on nuclear energy for power generation is expected to hinder the solar energy market growth.
• France derives major electricity from nuclear energy due to a long-standing policy based on energy security. The county's total nuclear capacity stood at 62.3 GWe as of 2020.
• With the upcoming nuclear power projects, the country is expected to have increased nuclear power installed capacity. Projects like FLAMANVILLE-3 are expected to commission during the upcoming two-three years, which is expected to support France's increasing demand for energy.
• Nuclear energy act as a major source of energy in France and is expected to act as a significant contributor to its energy mix during the forecast period. Hence, such a scenario is expected to be a restraint for the renewable energy market in the country.

Competitive Landscape

The French Renewable energy market is moderately fragmented. Some of the major companies operating in the market include Engie SA, EDF Renewables, TotalEnergies SE, Vestas, and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

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