In the bays of the Salon des Maires et des Collectivités Locales, in Paris, on November 24, among the hundreds of companies that come to collect public money, in the middle of the stands, petit fours and leaflets on glossy paper, the two commercial from WPD, a German company specializing in wind and solar parks, are happy to discuss. Their subjects of conversation: the competitors from the stands next door, the innumerable constraints that complicate the installation of wind turbines, the canvassing of mayors, the endless disputes, the pusillanimity of the prefects in the face of legal risks, the solar parks that grow in the fields and on the rooftops…
But what predominates is the feeling of experiencing a historical shift: “In ten months, things have changed more than in fifteen yearssays the more experienced of the two representatives. With the crisis in Ukraine and the difficulties of French nuclear power, people realized that energy was scarce. Fifteen years ago, we were taken for cool babas. Just yesterday, we were told that we were a subsidized economy. It’s finish ! With bills exploding, corporate purchasing managers are calling us for help. »
The year 2022 could mark a turning point in the slow development of renewable energies in France. Provided that the sector manages to follow the explosion in demand and respond to the contradictions of French society, which is not entirely certain. The appetite is huge among individuals, communities, businesses. Enedis, a subsidiary of EDF in charge of local electricity distribution, plans to register nearly 100,000 connections to the electricity network this year, mainly for photovoltaic panels purchased by individuals. “We are going to break the record for the number of installations. At the end of the third quarter of 2022, we will have done more than in the whole of 2021”observes Hervé Lextrat, director of the energy transition division of Enedis.
Veterans of the sector make the comparison with the rise of solar energy in the early 2010s among individuals, when the promises of high prices had created a vast windfall effect as well as a gaping hole in public finances. The difference is that the installed powers are much higher thanks to the shades on the car parks or the installations on the roofs of companies, agricultural sheds or public buildings, which multiply the kilowatt hours produced.
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