France Boosts Investment in Renewable Energy
The French government has launched a major renewable energy investment program targeting emerging clean energy technologies, such as solar, marine and geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects and advanced biofuel development.
The new program will offer €450m ($572m) in subsidies and a further €900m in low-interest loans to cutting-edge technology projects. About €190m ($241m) will be invested before the end of the year 2010, with €290m set aside over the next 4 years up to 2014. All told, the program, called Démonstrateurs et plates-formes technologiques en énergies renouvelables et décarbonées et chimie verte, will provide €1.35bn ($1.7bn) of financial support to the renewable energy sector over the next four years.
According to analysts, this move may signal a shift in strategies for France, which has traditionally favored more established alternative energy technologies, such as nuclear and wind.
“While the French government has historically backed mature, low cost, carbon emission-free technologies like nuclear and onshore wind, these funds will directly assist companies at the other end of the energy cost spectrum,” Charlie Hodges, an industry analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London said in a press release.
As a complement to this new energy investment program, the French government is hoping to attract some €2bn ($2.5bn) of private sector investments.
