Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariffs (I)

The following feed-in tariffs were established under the Electricity Law of 2000. All sites benefiting from the mandatory buyback rates must be under 12 MW of nominal capacity: - Wind energy: production sites built after the law was published (November 2001) can sign a fifteen-year contract which guarantees a FF 0.55/kWh (0.0838) rate for the first five years for all sites. The tariff for the next ten years depends on wind conditions; plants working at full capacity for less than 2,000 hours continue to get EUR 0.0838, those at a full-capacity of 3,600 h/year receive 0.0541/kWh (tariffs in between are determined by a linear regression). These tariffs apply for the first 1,500 MW of nationally installed capacity, thereafter all tariffs decrease by 10% (only for new projects). These tariffs are applicable until December 2002, after they decrease by 3.3% annually to reflect technology learning. - Small hydro: production sites built after the publication of the law (or for the marginal production from retrofits increasing production by more than 10%) can sign a twenty-year contract which guarantees FF 0.40/kWh (0.0610) for sites with a capacity under 500 kW and FF 0.36/kWh (0.0549) for larger ones. An incentive for regularity of production of up to FF 0.10/kWh (0.0152) is available in winter (regularity and winter incentives can be separated). - Combustible waste: production sites built after the publication of the law are guaranteed rates of up to FF 0.299/kWh (0.0456) for medium-voltage connections and FF 0.274/kWh (0.0418) for high-voltage connections. - Solar (PV or any radiative technology): The rate is 0.305/kWh in the overseas departments and Corsica, and 0.0155/kWh on mainland France. It also provides a grant of 4.6/watt for direct grid-connected installations. - Biogas from landfills: production sites built after the publication of the law are guaranteed, in metropolitan France, rates up to 0.0572/kWh for small installations, up to 0.0450/kWh for large installations and linear interpolation for medium-sized installations. -Municipal solid waste (other than biogas): Rate of EUR 0.045 to EUR 0.05/kWh with a bonus for energy efficiency ranging from 0 to EUR 0.003/kWh. -Cogeneration: Rate of between EUR 0.061 and EUR 0.0915/kWh, according to the price of gas, running time and power. Feed-in tariffs for most technologies have been superseded by subsequent regulations, except for biogas from landfills, municipal solid waste and cogeneration. Tariffs for landfill biogas and municipal solid waste run 15 years, while those for cogeneration are 12 years.

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