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Hollande Victory Signals Shift in France's Renewable Energy Policy
Hollande Victory Signals Shift in France's Renewable Energy Policy
By Steve Leone, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com
May 8, 2012
New Hampshire, USA — A natural disaster sparked the re-emergence of Japan as a ripe renewable energy market. Now, a political shakeup could have similar effects 6,000 miles away in France.
That’s the initial indication as the world works to gauge the fallout from a massive swing in political direction as Socialist François Hollande unseated Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy for the French presidency. The math is pretty simple on this one. Sarkozy has been a staunch supporter of nuclear power, which is reponsible for more than 75 percent of the country’s electricity. He’s also been mostly against expanding government programs to grow the green economy. President-elect Hollande, meanwhile, is an avid backer of renewable energy and he has stated publicly that he wants to reduce France’s dependence on nuclear power to 50 percent by 2025.
The likely shift in national energy strategy comes as many of the country’s neighbors scale back their commitment to renewables as part of deep cuts in spending. The photovoltaic industries in Germany, Italy and the U.K. are still assessing the impacts of recent cuts in their respective Feed-in tariffs.
France’s reconsideration of its renewables future has an awful lot to do with the recent struggles of Japan. The March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis shifted Japan’s future policy toward solar, wind, biomass and geothermal. It forced the same change in Germany, which like France and Japan, relied heavily on nuclear power. And Italy, which had considered re-committing itself to nuclear energy, shut the door quickly after Fukushima.
Now, France stands alone ...
By Steve Leone, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com
May 8, 2012
New Hampshire, USA — A natural disaster sparked the re-emergence of Japan as a ripe renewable energy market. Now, a political shakeup could have similar effects 6,000 miles away in France.
That’s the initial indication as the world works to gauge the fallout from a massive swing in political direction as Socialist François Hollande unseated Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy for the French presidency. The math is pretty simple on this one. Sarkozy has been a staunch supporter of nuclear power, which is reponsible for more than 75 percent of the country’s electricity. He’s also been mostly against expanding government programs to grow the green economy. President-elect Hollande, meanwhile, is an avid backer of renewable energy and he has stated publicly that he wants to reduce France’s dependence on nuclear power to 50 percent by 2025.
The likely shift in national energy strategy comes as many of the country’s neighbors scale back their commitment to renewables as part of deep cuts in spending. The photovoltaic industries in Germany, Italy and the U.K. are still assessing the impacts of recent cuts in their respective Feed-in tariffs.
France’s reconsideration of its renewables future has an awful lot to do with the recent struggles of Japan. The March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis shifted Japan’s future policy toward solar, wind, biomass and geothermal. It forced the same change in Germany, which like France and Japan, relied heavily on nuclear power. And Italy, which had considered re-committing itself to nuclear energy, shut the door quickly after Fukushima.
Now, France stands alone ...
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/05/hollande-victory-signals-shift-in-frances-renewable-energy-policy?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-May9-2012
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