The French National Assembly has approved a retroactive cut in feed-in tariffs (FiTs) granted to large photovoltaic (PV) projects - with capacities exceeding 250 kW - between 2006 and 2010, considering that those tariffs were too high. In order to the support the solar PV sector, the government adopted in 2006 a 20-year FiT of €600/MWh, which was 10 times higher than the market price and offered an internal rate of return over 20%. The FiTs were revised in 2010, but purchase contracts signed between 2006 and 2010 were not amended. Consequently, these contracts (around 800 contracts for an installed capacity of 3.6 GW), which account for 5% of France’s renewable electricity production, now concentrate 1/3 of state-support for renewable energies (€2bn/year) and would cost €20bn for the remaining ten years. The FiTs revision represents potential savings for the government of €300-400m/year.
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