The French Ministry for the Ecological and Solidary Transition has issued the updated proposal of the revised PPE energy plan (Programmation Pluriannuelle de l'Énergie), which will define France's energy policy for the periods 2019-2023 and 2024-2028. It has been submitted to several consultative bodies and the final version is slated for summer 2019. The updated version details measures to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050, including a strong reduction in fossil fuel consumption compared with 2012 levels (-20% in primary consumption of fossil fuels in 2023 and -35% in 2028) and in final energy consumption (-7% in 2023 and -14% in 2028).
The 10-year energy plan also aims to raise the share of renewables in final energy consumption, from 16% in 2017 to 25% in 2023 and 34-38% in 2028. Renewables should cover 35% of electricity consumption in 2023 (20% in 2016) and 48-52% in 2028 (27% of power generation in 2023 and 36% in 2028). The PPE expects the domestic renewable energy power generation capacities to reach 74 GW in 2023 and 102-113 GW by 2028, including include over 26 GW of hydropower, over 34 GW of onshore wind power, around 5 GW of offshore wind, 35-44 GW of solar PV, 800 MW of wood-based biomass and over 300 MW of biogas. To reach these goals, the PPE details the renewable tenders schedule between 2019 and 2024: around 2 GW/year of onshore wind (1.6 GW in 2019 and 1.8 GW in 2020), 2 GW/year of ground-based solar and 900 MW/year of rooftop solar.
As for nuclear, the PPE recommends to reduce the share of nuclear in the French power generation mix to below the 50% threshold by 2035: 4 to 6 nuclear reactors will be shut down by 2028 (including the Fessenheim ones) to have 14 reactors rated 900 MW each shut by 2035. Energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions should then fall by 14% between 2016 and 2023 (277 MtCO2eq), to reach 227 Mt in 2028 (-30% between 2016 and 2028).
The PPE also aims to nearly triple biogas production between 2016 (5.4 TWh) and 2023 (14 TWh) and to raise it to 24-32 TWh in 2028. Biogas is set to represent between 6% and 8% of the total gas consumption by 2028. The share of first generation biofuels in fuel consumption should remain stable at around 7% and that of advanced biofuels should increase 12-fold for gasoline and 9-fold for diesel compared to 2017. Renewable heat consumption should rise to 196 TWh in 2023 (+25% compared to 2016) and to 218-247 TWh in 2028 (+40-60%), covering 35% to 39% of total heat consumption.
The government will also have to manage the evolution of the regulated electricity tariff, to which nearly 80% of households subscribe. The energy regulator CRE will deliberate on the level of the increase in February 2019.
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