Contributing to an ambitious national target

 

France enjoys an abundant potential for wind energy but has taken some time to exploit it effectively. Now, with the added impetus of the European Union target for 20% renewable energy by 2020, the market for large scale wind power is really taking off.

 

Last year was the best year ever for the installation of wind farms in France. A record 950 MW of new wind power capacity was put into operation around the country. This represented some 60% of all new power production capacity in France. It also took the French total to just over 3,400 MW, the fourth largest in Europe.

 

France Energie Eolienne, the French Wind Energy Association, says that if all the wind farms already approved were to be built, the total capacity would reach 7,500 MW. This would be enough to meet a tenth of the country’s domestic electricity demand.

 

The recent healthy growth of wind energy in France can be explained by the implementation in 2001/2 of a ‘feed-in tariff’ system which ensures that wind farm operators are paid a premium for their electricity generation, in recognition of the technology’s environmental benefits. However, since 2005, these feed-in tariffs are only granted in specific areas earmarked for wind development.

 

The French government has now established a target for wind energy to reach a level of 25,000 MW by 2020 – a seven-fold increase from the end of 2008. Of this, 6,000 MW would be built offshore. Achieving this target would help France to reach its overall EU-led goal for 23% of all energy to come from renewable sources in 2020, an increase from 10.3% in 2005.

 

France Energie Eolienne is confident that the wind power industry has the potential to realise this ambition. “The government’s target shows that wind energy has become both competitive and a mature source of energy,” says FEE’s Marion Lettry. “We are confident that if all interested parties, both local and national, work together with the industry, we can make sure that this target is reached.”