Three French energy associations, representing hydropower producers across France, have described seven steps they believe will boost France’s hydropower sector.

The Union Francaise de l’Électricité (French Electricity Union), Syndicat des Énergies Renouvelables (Renewable Energy Syndicate) and France Hydro Electricité published a white paper, Hydropower at the crossroads: giving new momentum to the number one renewable energy, setting out the proposals on 27 June 2017.

According to the organisations, these steps should ‘maintain, sustain and develop’ France’s number one renewable electricity source, with a view to boosting the energy transition at home and abroad. The paper calls on the French government to take steps to grow hydropower’s share in the energy mix, with a view to achieving the commitments of the Paris Agreement and the 2015 French energy transition law for green growth.

Hydropower currently provides 60 per cent of France’s renewable energy, and plays a major role in greening the energy mix nationally, regionally and globally.

However, a slowing market and increasing regulation is putting pressure on the sector, which the organisations behind the paper are concerned could have a negative impact on the energy transition. In response, they have set out the following steps, across three themes:  

• Coordinating national and European policies for better alignment, including: (1) ensuring coherence of policies; (2) assessing the real impact of proposed policies; and (3) improving dialogue and consultation.
• Ensuring economic decisions and tax frameworks incentivise the maintenance and development of hydropower, including: (4) relieving the local tax burden on hydropower development; and (5) establishing a stable and incentivising economic framework.
• Recognising the true value of services delivered to the electricity system, by: (6) establishing an economic model to support pumped storage systems; and (7) recognising the services hydropower delivers to the electricity system in terms of supply-demand balance and security.

Click here to read the white paper, Hydroélectricité à la croisée des Chemins: donnons un nouvel élan à la première des énergies renouvelables, in full (FR).