In the overseas territories, the energy transition is well under way, but companies expect the State to be more efficient in its management. Thursday, June 29, after six months of meetings on the ground on the subject, the Federation of Overseas Companies (Fedom), the economic lobby of these territories, expressed criticism and proposals during its general assembly.
With a view to carbon neutrality by 2050, business opportunities exist for investors, driven by “effective national programs”, although at “to amplify”says Hervé Mariton, the president of Fedom, who is calling in particular for new tax exemption mechanisms.
Among other support, the State’s effort to help companies control their energy demand reaches significant amounts: in French Guiana, for example, 20 million euros in bonuses made it possible in 2021 to avoid 142 million additional production costs and reduce electricity consumption by 32 gigawatt hours per year. Breakthrough innovations also testify to the desire of economic players to move forward – in Tahiti, the Swac, a system that draws seawater from the depths to air-condition the hospital, in Guadeloupe, the Farwind ship, transforming the wind into electricity.
Many constraints
Nevertheless, the projects, in these territories not interconnected to the metropolitan electricity network, remain hemmed in by numerous constraints. They stumble according to Fedom on structural delays, for example insufficient telecommunications networks to manage the intermittency of renewable energies. But also on “financing mechanisms unsuited to the local context”A “lack of territorial animation” Or “inadequate regulations”.
Old subject than that of standards: in 2017, a benchmark report from the Senate denounced the “normative wall” construction overseas, forced to source according to national and European standards. Most of his conclusions remain valid. The derogation requested for the outermost regions by France from the European Commission, to be able to use materials without CE marking overseas, “should not open before the end of 2024 or mid-2025”, according to Françoise de Palmas, general secretary of Fedom. Companies are asking for material and product compliance expertise to be outsourced.
Producing electricity (mostly carbon-based today) overseas is four to five times more expensive than in mainland France, 291 euros per kilowatt hour compared to 50 euros, due to the geographical and physical constraints of the territories. Public service charges for electricity are estimated at nearly 2.5 billion euros for 2023.
You have 36.5% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.