French President Emmanuel Macron outlined the details of the federal government’s upcoming renewables vitality invoice on the launch of the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm. Nonetheless, he remained evasive on the acceleration of allowing procedures consistent with EU targets.

The French president spoke on the inauguration of the offshore wind farm at Saint-Nazaire, on the French west coast, on Thursday (22 September).

“We have to clearly cut back delays” within the improvement of renewable energies, he stated,  highlighting that it took over 10 years to make Saint-Nazaire’s wind farm operational.

France, which is notoriously sluggish at granting permits for wind vitality initiatives, failed to fulfill the 23% renewable goal it set for itself for 2020.

On Monday (26 September), the brand new renewables invoice can be introduced to the Council of Ministers, with the hope of expediting future initiatives.

The invoice proposed by the federal government proposes to pool public consultations, generalise on-line participation for particular initiatives, and enhance compatibility between all city planning paperwork.

The purpose is to double the tempo of renewable energies, notably offshore wind.

No deadlines

In suggestions printed in Might, the European Fee urged EU member states to set “clearly outlined, accelerated and as brief as potential deadlines for all of the steps required for the granting of permits to construct and function renewable vitality initiatives”.

However the French invoice, authorised by the nationwide local weather transition council, doesn’t set any. And whereas Macron made references to the discount of allowing procedures, these don’t correspond to the expectations set by the EU’s establishments.

The EU’s Renewable Vitality Directive – revised by the Fee in Might within the wake of Russia’s battle in Ukraine – units a one-year deadline for the examination of allow purposes for initiatives positioned in ‘go-to areas’ and a two-year deadline for all different initiatives.

The time restrict is diminished to 6 months for “repowering” allow purposes of current wind farm and for items of lower than 150 kW positioned in go-to areas. It then goes as much as one yr for a similar initiatives exterior.

On high of that, the registration interval for allow purposes is diminished to 14 days for initiatives in go-to areas, and one month for initiatives exterior.

However Macron introduced that procedures will solely be simplified to avoid wasting between three and 6 months for public enquiries and environmental authorisations, and even one yr for offshore wind initiatives.

No go-to areas

Neither does the invoice decide any go-to areas for the event of renewable energies usually. Moderately, it units out solely particular zones for the event of offshore wind initiatives.

These zones can be important to rapidly establish the areas during which will probably be essential to work with the varied stakeholders, defined Régis Boigegrain, Government Director of Maritime Affairs on the French electrical energy transmission community supervisor RTE, throughout a stay broadcast on LinkedIn on 9 September.

The EU’ Renewable Vitality Directive, which is at present up for revision, ought to assist France make clear these deadlines. The end result of EU negotiations, due on the finish of the yr, will give the federal government clear indications in relation to setting binding deadlines into French regulation.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald and Frédéric Simon]