France more attractive for renewables in Ernst & Young index

Jun 2, 2014 - France climbed to the eighth from ninth position in the “all renewables” country attractiveness index by Ernst & Young for January-March 2014, thanks to capacity additions in the solar segment and new rules for wind power.

In the most recent edition of the ranking, released on Monday, France scored 58.2 out of 100 points and surpassed Australia, where fears over the potential cancellation of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme are slowing investment. Interest in France has been supported by government tenders, while forecasts that the country will add some 4 GW of fresh wind and solar capacity will give a further push to investment, according to Ernst & Young.

France is the eight most popular market for offshore wind, the consultancy's technology-specific indexes showed. The French government in May awarded 1 GW of wind projects to a consortium formed by domestic utility GDF Suez (EPA:GSZ), Portugal's EDP Renewables (ELI:EDPR), Neoen Marine and Areva (EPA:AREVA). The contracts were signed as part of a national tender launched in March that is to support the country’s goal to have 6 GW of offshore wind turbines by 2020.

Meanwhile, wind power companies in France are awaiting new wind power purchase rules by the government after the previous feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme decree was annulled by The Council of State last week.

The US, China, Germany, Japan and Canada were the five most appealing renewable markets in the first quarter of 2014.

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