Renewable Energies Acceleration Act

Accelerating the production of renewable energies, GreenYellow deciphers the Law of February 7, 2023

Presented to the Council of Ministers on September 26, 2022 by Madame Agnès PANNIER-RUNACHER, in her capacity as Minister for Energy Transition, the text of the bill to accelerate the production of Renewable Energies (RE) was adopted on first reading - with amendments - by the Senate on November 4, 2022.

On January 10, 2023, the National Assembly voted on the first reading. Then on January 24, 2023, deputies and senators meeting in a Joint Committee (Commission Mixte Paritaire - CMP) reached agreement on a final version adopted by the National Assembly on January 31, 2023 and voted by the Senate on February 7.

For the full text, visit the Government website

Analysis & deciphering of the Renewable Energy Production Acceleration Act...

What GreenYellow has to say about the new regulations

If it had to be summed up in a catchphrase, the key phrase of this law to accelerate the production of renewable energies could be "Freeing up land for solar power".

The new Energy Efficiency Act emphasizes the development of decentralized solar power on land that has already been artificially developed (e.g. parking lots, rooftops, wasteland, derelict land), without conflicting with environmental considerations . It will accelerate the deployment of this type of installation and bring us closer to the targets set out in the Pluriannual Energy Program (PPE).

The three pillars of the law :

Simplify procedures.
Mobilize derelict or degraded areas.
And better share value with local communities.

Despite remaining obstacles, photovoltaic solar energy is competitive and popular

The main advance of the law to accelerate the production of renewable energies concerns the deployment of photovoltaic solar power on parking lots and rooftops (around 10GW). However, this still falls short of the EPP's target of 100 (one hundred) Gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity by 2050.

The photovoltaic solar energy craze has to contend with increasingly long lead times. This has an impact on implementation times, which are also subject to administrative processing delays.

However, global awareness of climate change is leading to paradigm shifts in companies' decision-making processes and strategic priorities. Companies are keen to accelerate the decarbonization of their activities and to give concrete expression to their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) commitments , not only at their own level, but also at the level of their suppliers and partners. This enhances their brand image and competitiveness, and enables them to meet their legal obligations. One example is the Pacte law, which requires listed companies and companies with over 500 employees or generating sales of over €100 million to publish non-financial reporting every year.

The GreenYellow vision of the EnR law

Promoting a paradigm shift within companies

Although everyone is in favor of implementing the energy transition, there has been a certain inertia over the years. Now, in the face of the climate emergency, we're seeing an upsurge in regulations in favor of the energy transition in France and Europe, as well as a desire for energy sovereignty.

Before the regulatory changes(Climate & Resilience Act, Green Pact, Fit for 55, ...), solar photovoltaic topics were mostly studied by CAC40/SBF120 companies, according to long decision-making schemes, strong cost constraints and studies to determine whether companies internalized or outsourced them.

Previously, self-consumption tariffs were at a slight discount to grid tariffs, and companies sought to increase the value of their land and recover rent by exploiting their unused surfaces. Today, self-consumption electricity tariffs are at least 2 times cheaper than grid electricity prices, and come with a long-term commitment, reducing the uncertainty of energy costs over a long period.

We're witnessing a craze for self-consumption solar power, which is becoming a lever for economic competitiveness as well as contributing to energy sobriety. Leading manufacturers are accelerating this trend, which is a clear sign of a real underlying trend.

Companies are therefore keen to go one step further and develop their renewable energy production projects within a very short timeframe (18 to 24 months). This is where decentralized solar power comes into its own, with a third-party investor who is an expert in the field, taking charge of the project as a whole within short deployment times and assuming the associated risks.

Decision-making processes are being shortened to deliver solar photovoltaic solutions within optimized timeframes. In order to contribute to this trend, the law is designed to speed up administrative applications and reduce appeal times, which will also help us to catch up in the development of renewable energies.

Many distributors have sufficient roof and parking space for self-consumption to cover 25 to 30% of their consumption.

Loi d'Accélération de la Production d'Energies Renouvelables and some typical company profiles by sector of activity

Industry has land (parking lots and roofs) covered by the new law. For manufacturers relocating to France, a solar photovoltaic project will be all the easier to implement if it can be integrated right from the site design stage.
Large-scale distribution food also has characteristics that lend themselves well to photovoltaic solar energy with :
- Roof space and parking available.
- Substantial energy requirements to meet, in particular, the demands of 7/24 cold chain management.
- And the challenge of complying with regulatory requirements (installation in parking lots and new buildings).
Retail is a competitive sector whose operating costs have risen enormously in recent years. Reducing the volume of kWh drawn from the grid, thanks to solar photovoltaic self-consumption, represents a real competitive advantage.

Generally speaking, a global approach to the energy challenges and profile of a company can increase the carbon and financial benefits of its assets. For example, the implementation ofenergy efficiency projects prior to the construction of a solar photovoltaic project will sustainably reduce a site's energy consumption, which in turn will enable the optimized dimensioning of a solar plant self-consumption system.

Solar power for economic and ecological benefits

Reducing energy dependency and carbon footprint

Installing a decentralized solar plant photovoltaic system can reduce energy bills by reducing dependence on the grid. Provisions to encourage the installation of solar photovoltaic projects of this type are naturally included in the law to accelerate the production of renewable energies.

The aim is twofold:

Ecological benefits :
1. Greening France's energy mix by promoting the deployment of renewable energies, particularly photovoltaic solar power.
2. Make use of areas that have been anthropized and "lost to nature", i.e. land that has already been artificialized, such as parking lots, rooftops and abandoned motorways.
Economic benefits :
1. Reduce your energy bill with decentralized photovoltaic solar power.
2. By using the energy generated locally by the solar plant plant, client reduces the amount of energy drawn from the grid.
3. Enhance the value of land by integrating new energies such as photovoltaic solar power.

To find out more about self-consumption solar power, follow this link.

To find out more about the solar solutions GreenYellow tailor-made and turnkey solutions from our #SHIFTProductionoffering, visit this page.

Agrivoltaism and the Renewable Energy Production Acceleration Act

Agrivoltaism, one of the activities of GreenYellow, is included in the new provisions of this law. As a result, administrative procedures for this type of solar photovoltaic project will be simplified, providing a framework for this growing activity.

The logic of delegation by the Chambers of Agriculture enables the approach to be centralized. However, this territorial planning, with bottom-up steering (from the local level), still seems insufficient in relation to the human and financial resources required for rapid deployment.

To find out more...

Energy efficiency complements decentralized solar solutions

What's true for photovoltaic solar energy is also true for energy efficiency solutions. GreenYellow develops, finances and operates infrastructure projects that enable our clients customers to produce green, local and competitive energy - in the case of photovoltaic solar energy - as well as those that enable our clients customers to sustainably reduce their energy consumption - in the case of energy efficiency - and thus accelerate decarbonization by combining the two levers.

GreenYellow has developed a global platform of offerings in photovoltaic solar energy, energy efficiency, energy services and electric mobility, enabling us to support our clients customers across the entire value chain, with a commitment to results.

Learn more about our turnkey energy efficiency solutions #SHIFTEfficiencyturnkey solutions to help you reduce your energy consumption over the long term, visit this page.

And to discover the other offers of our unique and global platform allowing our clients to consume less and better, you can read these pages:

#SHIFTEnergyServices for energy services tailor-made
#SHIFTMobility to accelerate the development of electric mobility.