French policy affects solar energy

Municipal, regional and national authorities in France often have different views on permits for the deployment of solar. One-stop shops to unify all authorization processes could be the solution, as suggested by the European Union.

France is not exactly the easiest country for investors and developers of ground-mounted utility-scale solar projects. This is due to the amount of paperwork that must be completed and the various authorities that are involved in such proceedings, usually with conflicting views.

Marie Buchet, head of solar power at Syndicat des Énergies Renouvelables (SER), presented four different cases in which utility-scale solar plants faced major permitting delays due to issues regarding the modification of local urban plans.

“For all of these cases, we identify a common pattern: long and difficult processes due to the number of interlocutors with a sometimes diverging view,” she said.

One of the projects is a solar facility. The Department for Land and Coastal Management has asked the developer to change the project's zoning in the local urban plan, but the local association of municipalities oppose the change. 

Another example is a solar carport that will be built at an amusement park in Allier. The project was eligible to compete in the tenders of France's energy regulator, the Commission de Régulation de l'Énergie (CRE), but it was unable to participate because the local municipality took more than two years to convert the project site.

The third case involves a solar project for a former landfill site in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

The fourth case relates to a 60 MW solar plant designed to host sheep grazing. The project is located on a completely isolated site, relatively close to a connection point, but with no agricultural activity since 2017.

“These proceedings take a lot of time, greatly delaying the project and whose procedures are not necessarily linked to the plant's building permit,” said Buchet.

The SER is currently calling for a one-stop shop to examine town planning and environmental authorizations.