Originally published 13 December, 2010
Decree No. 2010-1510 of 9 December 2010 suspending the purchase of electricity produced by installations using solar rays (the "Decree")
Despite the opposition to the proposed French Government's
plans to impose a three (3) month1 moratorium on new
solar projects that qualify for current power purchase feed in
tariff, the Decree was voted in on Thursday 9 and published last
Friday.
The Decree will allow the Government to prepare a new legal
framework that will become applicable at the end of the 3 month
moratorium and would solve the problem of the queue. The new legal
framework aims to reach a target of 500 MWp of new solar projects
per year and will most probably include a decrease of the feed in
tariffs. Further official information on this legal framework is
not yet available.
Under the Decree, any pending or new applications for power
purchase agreements for electricity produced by solar projects
shall be suspended for a period of three (3) months from 10
December 2010 and no new requests shall be considered during this
period of suspension (article 1 of the Decree).
Exceptions to the moratorium
The suspension does not apply to solar installations with a
scheduled installed solar power production capacity which is less
than or equal to 3kW (article 2 of the Decree).
The suspension also does not apply to installations for which the
producer has already notified the grid operator, namely ERDF, of
its acceptance of the technical and financial proposition
("proposition technique et financière",
"PTF") before 2 December 2010. In this case, the relevant
installation must be put into operation2 within eighteen
(18) months from this date of notification of acceptance of the PTF
(article 3 of the Decree).
Where this notification of acceptance of the PTF was issued more
than nine (9) months before the entry into force of the Decree,
namely in March 2010, the exemption of the moratorium will only
apply to installations which will be put into operation within nine
(9) months following the date of entry into force of the
Decree3 (paragraph 1, article 4 of the Decree).
Extension of the above time periods can be granted when putting
into operation of the installation is delayed because of the works
necessary for the connection to the grid, so long as the
installation is completed within the time limits as specified in
article 4 of the Decree. However, in all cases the installation
must be put into operation by no later than two (2) months after
the end of the works related to the connection. The date of putting
into operation of the installation shall therefore, be the same as
the date of the activation of the grid connection (second
paragraph, article 4 of the Decree).
At the end of the three (3) month moratorium, new applications will
have to be made even for suspended applications. Therefore,
applicants will have to start the whole process de novo (article 5
of the Decree).
Footnotes
1 Last week, the initial project specified a four (4) month
moratorium.
2 Under the last paragraph of article 4 of the Decree, the date of
putting into operation (mise en service) is the date of the
activation of the connection to the grid (mise en service de son
raccordement au réseau).
3 Please note that the drafting of the Decree is not very clear:
it is still unclear whether it is nine (9) months from the date of
the notification of the acceptance of the PTF or from the date of
entry into force of the Decree, namely, 10 December 2010.
For further information or advice, please contact:
Michelle Thomas, Partner
Head of clean energy and sustainability
Tel: 0845 498 7553
michellethomas@eversheds.com
Boris Martor
Avocat Associé / Partner
Tel: +33 1 55 73 41 53
borismartor@eversheds.com
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
