EC oks France's EUR-5.7 bn help system for building-mounted solar

• The European Commission (EC) claimed on Friday that it has actually approved France's EUR-5.7-billion (USD 6.71 bn) aid system to support the installation of small-scale building-mounted solar arrays.

The allocated quantity, which is provisionary, will offer to finance feed-in-tariffs (FITs) granted to setups with a capacity of up to 500 kW. The aid will certainly be prolonged without a tender procedure since the capacity of sustained projects is listed below 1 MW, the EC clarified.

The EC stated it discovered the help to be "proportionate and also limited to the minimal essential", and in accordance with EU state help regulations, including that its favorable impacts "outweigh any type of possible unfavorable effects in terms of distortions to competition".

The help scheme will certainly run up until 2026, while the FITs will be awarded for a duration of 20 years. The level of individual FITs will rely on the dimension of the setup as well as the business design. Simply put, analyses will be made relying on whether the varieties export all the power into the grid or a part while the remainder is consumed.

With this scheme, France anticipates to take advantage of added 3,700 MW of solar energy ability, the EU executive added.

The Brussels' latest nod comes specifically a month after the Commission accepted France's request to disperse EUR 30.5 billion in state help with tenders for onshore solar, onshore wind and also hydropower plants.