Solar and wind energy, which have become competitive, now contribute to France’s budget, calculated the representatives of the sector, who call on the State to redistribute these billions of euros to support the purchasing power of the French.
Over 2021 and 2022, these two energies should make it possible to save and/or bring more than 14 billion euros to national finances, according to estimates presented on Tuesday, in an interval between two presidential rounds, the outcome of which will also affect the energy transition.
Renewables do not cost, they report, says Michel Gioria, General Delegate of France Wind Energy (FEE), who denounces the cookie-cutter positions of certain politicians accusing the wind of being expensive and useless.
14 billion euros for national finances
These 14 billion include 3.3 billion that solar and wind power producers will return to the state for overpayment for 2021, and the 5.1 billion planned for 2022 that the state will not need to disburse. Added to this is an additional 6 billion net that will be paid by the operators of renewable electric energies, including 3.7 billion provided by wind power alone.
Why? In France, renewable energies (ENR) are supported by a system of additional remuneration in relation to a target price. However, these energies have seen their costs fall, while the electricity market has exploded, a price spike that should last for some time. An unexpected phenomenon, this support has therefore become a source of revenue for the state: operators now pay the difference between the market price and the target price.
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At this rate, the wind power should have reimbursed by the end of 2024 all that it has received since 2003, i.e. 11 billion euros, estimates the sector, which, for its estimates, worked with market analysts and on the Market development forecasts from the Energy Regulation Commission (CRE).
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The sector suggests that the state reallocates these funds to help protect the most vulnerable from the energy shock, and would also like it to be known.
We must put the church back in the center of the village: it is thanks to renewable energy that we can cushion the increase in the French electricity bill, says Jean-Yves Grandidier, the president of Valorem.
Wind power plays an active part in preserving purchasing power, controlling the price of energy, our energy independence, it is an essential lever which France cannot afford to do without, supports Anne-Catherine de Tourtier, the President of FEE.