France's latest energy plan draft: photovoltaic installation target significantly reduced, local manufacturing put on the agenda

The French Ministry of Ecological Transition has released the final draft of the Multi Year Energy Plan (PPE3), proposing that by 2035, the national cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaics will be 65-90GW, lower than the previously set target of 75-100GW.

According to the latest target, France needs to add 4GW annually before 2035 to reach the 65GW target, and to achieve 90GW, it needs to add 7GW annually. France will add 3.2GW of photovoltaic installed capacity in 2023 and 3.5GW in the first nine months of 2024. It still needs to accelerate its efforts to achieve the 2035 target.

According to the PPE3 draft, France plans to conduct two rounds of bidding for ground photovoltaic power stations each year starting from the first half of 2025, with each round having a capacity of 1GW. In addition, there will be three rounds of bidding for rooftop photovoltaic projects each year, with a scale of 300MW per round. At the same time, the government will also launch a 500MW technology neutral project tender, covering photovoltaic, hydropower, and onshore wind power projects.

According to the plan, small and medium-sized rooftop projects will account for 41% of the total installed photovoltaic capacity in France by 2030, small ground mounted photovoltaic projects will account for 5%, and the remaining 54% will be large-scale projects. For agricultural photovoltaic projects, the government plans to establish a specialized bidding mechanism, and the specific plan is still to be determined.

In addition, PPE3 has set production capacity targets for various links in the photovoltaic manufacturing industry chain by 2035, including 3-5 GW of silicon materials, 3-5 GW of silicon ingots and wafers, and 5-10 GW of solar cells and components.

PPE3, as a strategic roadmap for energy production and consumption in France from 2025 to 2035, has now been publicly solicited for opinions on the official website of the Ministry of Ecological Transformation, with a public announcement period from March 7th to April 5th, 2025.

However, it is worth noting that the French government has recently proposed a retrospective reduction in the Feed in Tariff (FIT) subsidy for rooftop photovoltaics, which has raised concerns in the photovoltaic industry.