French nuclear generating capacity will be capped at its current level under a long-awaited draft energy policy announced today by energy minister Royal. French president Francois Hollande 2012 election pledge was to limit the nuclear share of French generation at 50 per cent by 2025, and the closure of its oldest nuclear power plant, Fessenheim, by the end of 2016. Now, following a national energy debate, his government has announced that their nuclear generating capacity will indeed be capped at the current level of 63.2 GWe. It will also be limited to 50 per cent of total output by 2025. Nuclear currently accounts for almost 75 per cent of the electricity production, making closures of power reactors appear inevitable.
The draft policy sets the goal of a 40 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, compared with 1990s level of 565 million tonnes, by 2030. By that time, renewable energy sources should account for 40 per cent of electricity consumption and 32 per cent of total energy use. It also sets ambitious targets for expanding the use of electric vehicles with the number of charging points increasing from the current 10,000 to 7 million by 2030.
France will not be exiting nuclear energy, Royal said emphasizing that it is thanks to nuclear energy that France can make this energy transition in an unperturbed way.
In other words, if the French experiment in renewables does not pan out, France can always power back up with nuclear.
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