France has set the ambitious target of reaching 40% of renewable electricity by 2030 and is presently initiating the transitioning of its electric system by making it more flexible through energy storage.
New self-consumption regulations
The French islands confirmed their ambition to become the reference in terms of intermittent integration through storage with a new tender for 50 MW of PV plus storage released in December 2016. On the mainland, several opportunities are shaping up at different levels: As PV feed-in tariffs decrease, self-consumption is becoming an interesting option for residential customers and an early adopters’ market has kick-started. At the commercial and industrial levels, new self-consumption regulations enable and reward storage participation for the first time.
New revenue streams appear
In the utility-scale segment, new revenue streams have appeared for energy storage: Following the German example, France opened its ancillary services market and joined the common European auction for primary reserve this January. Moreover, the French energy transition law has set the principles for flexibility services contracting and remuneration, and recent regulations go as far as defining the administrative procedure for a project to be proposed to the distribution system operator. Finally, France held its first capacity market auction in December 2016, awarding 22.6 GW of capacity and thus giving positive signals for energy storage.
Renewables penetrate the wholesale market
As renewables gradually exit feed-in tariffs and penetrate the wholesale markets, shorter trading products are appearing and the market is becoming more liquid. Therefore, revenues such as electricity intraday trading and balancing mechanism participation need to be carefully monitored to have a better grasp on this opportunity as it emerges. Overall, Clean Horizon expects the installed energy storage capacity to triple by 2020 and thus exceed the 100 MW cap (excluding pumped hydro).
France Top 3 European market for energy storage
“France is building on the French islands’ experience of energy storage systems and going a step further. The new regulatory environment associated with a strong energy policy has paved the way for energy storage, thus positioning the French energy storage market right after Germany and the United Kingdom”, Corentin Baschet of Clean Horizon said. (HCN)
Stay informed, get our weekly newsletter. Register here: http://www.pveurope.eu/Newsletter
Related news:
https://www.pveurope.eu/solar-modules/french-catholic-church-goes-solar-25-mw-pv-installations
