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Title:
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Shifting the policy focus from nuclear to renewable electricity in France
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Author(s):
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Published by:
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Publication date:
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ECN
Policy Studies
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1-9-2002
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ECN report number:
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Document type:
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ECN-C--02-043
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ECN publication
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Number of pages:
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Full text:
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22
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Download PDF
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Abstract:
The study analyses two related observations. France?s nuclear solutionis not technically perfect or widely accepted. And France could take
better advantage of the plentiful renewable sources it owns. The main
challenge of the essay is to discern a way from the currently nuclear-based
energy system in the direction of a system with an increased participation
of renewable energy.
The essay starts with an enumeration of
typical aspects of the current organisation of the French energy sector.
With a state-owned industry, a legal monopoly on imports and exports
and a low speed to liberalise the sector, France considers being economically
and socially efficient and guaranteeing safety, and therefore does not
favour privatisation. In the meantime, the nuclear way is economically
and politically less safe than it has been. France might have to cope
with the technical limitations given by a too substantial share (77%)
of nuclear power. There is a growing need for diversification with complementary
sources.
Next, the current policy framework is evaluated in an
energy-environmental context. France has a relatively good record on
environmental issues, except for its share of renewable electricity
production, which has actually decreased in recent years. However, interest
in the development of renewable energy resources in France is certainly
increasing. The release of the Cachet report in September 2001 seems
to have been a turning point in French energy politics and has led to
several structural measures such as feed-in tariffs to encourage the
generation of renewable electricity.
These results are the starting
point for analysing various renewable electricity technologies. One
can see attractive developments in favour of most renewables. However,
a number of counter-acting forces is still present. Some market barriers
are old, like subsidies for other energy sources including nuclear,
and difficult to remove. Other barriers are new, like impeding regulations
and administrative planning aspects, departmental compartmentalisation,
etc. Such market distortions might terminate several promising market
developments.
The conclusion finally sharpens up the findings
about the organisation of the French energy sector and the investigated
renewable technology ofitions. It is expected that France might (further)
shift its focus from nuclear towards renewable electricity by increasing
its idiosyncratic, regulatory guidance instead of lessening it. It might
be indeed attractive to develop renewable technology sub-industries
and not only their output, renewable electricity. One cannot really
imagine why a country with splendid renewable resources should not strive
to kill two birds with one stone when this opportunity seems to come.
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