France is moving forward on renewables, as the European Commission has approved a plan for Europe’s second-largest economy to contribute another 17 gigawatts (GW) of clean power to its infrastructure. If this plan comes to fruition, France could almost double its combined current wind and solar power capacity.
And that decision dwarfs the Commission’s approval earlier this year of a request from France to add about 2.6 GW of renewables, mostly from solar and hydropower. Known during the postwar era for De Gaulle and nuclear, France is embarking on the path of Macron and renewables.
France is moving forward on renewables, as the European Commission has approved a plan for Europe’s second-largest economy to contribute another 17 gigawatts (GW) of clean power to its infrastructure. If this plan comes to fruition, France could almost double its combined current wind and solar power capacity.
And that decision dwarfs the Commission’s approval earlier this year of a request from France to add about 2.6 GW of renewables, mostly from solar and hydropower. Known during the postwar era for De Gaulle and nuclear, France is embarking on the path of Macron and renewables.
This is a huge step for France, which has long viewed nuclear power as part of its identity, sovereignty and industrial might; however, the nation’s energy portfolio is shifting. For decades, the country has generated about three-quarters of its electricity needs from its 58 reactors. But as is the case with much of Europe’s nuclear power infrastructure, many of those plants are aging. Add the cheaper cost of renewables, plus the EU’s mandates to boost production of power from sources such as wind, solar and biomass, and France’s energy mix will change regardless of politics or sentiment.
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Image Credits: Kapipelmo via Wikimedia Commons
