Managing political market agencements: solar photovoltaic policy in France

ABSTRACT

The development of renewable energy is one manifestation of current transformations in the organisation of European energy production and markets. To illuminate the changes triggered by renewable energy policy, the evolution of solar photovoltaic policy in France is analysed with a focus on its central instrument, feed-in tariffs (FITs). FITs for photovoltaics raised difficulties in many countries, but their effects were particularly dramatic in France. Market sociology and science and technology studies are employed to describe FITs as agencements organising the markets and politics of electricity production. FITs are considered as inherently unpredictable insofar as they encourage innovation and the emergence of new actors. The ways in which three successive agencements of FITs for photovoltaics framed the politics and economy of photovoltaics in France, and how they addressed unanticipated effects, are discussed. This is suggestive of transformations and tensions in the construction of French energy policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Photovoltaics
• solar energy
• feed-in tariffs
• France
• energy policy
• agencements

Acknowledgements

This article draws on a PhD thesis supervised by Alain Nadaï. The author also thanks three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This logic was largely shaped by Germany. Germany introduced FITs in 1991 to favour the integration of RES-E, and revised them in 2000 with the explicit objective to accelerate the development of RES-E. Their success in this respect drove their adoption in other countries. The 2000 German FIT system scheduled regular assessments and revisions, leading to iterative learning and refinement. The objectives for FITs in Germany have been relatively consensual across political parties, and their design is informed by consultations with industry representatives, which does not prevent conflict.

2. The Grands Corps de l’Etat constitute the highest ranks of the French civil service. Its members are recruited from top-rank engineering and administration schools (e.g. Polytechnique, Ecole des Mines, ENA) and occupy senior offices in ministries and public institutions.

3. The Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) is a public institution under the control of the Ministry for Ecology. It was created in 1991 by the merger between several environmental bodies. Its history, composition and missions made it an advocate of renewable energy.

4. In French, ‘Programmation Pluriannuelle des investissements’.

5. The 2006 PPI planned for 160 MW installed capacity by 2010 and 500 MW by 2015 (MEFI 2006b).

6. Instituted in the context of the liberalisation of energy markets, the CRE is in charge of ensuring fair competition in the energy sector, and tends to be wary of FITs.

7. Considering the organisation of French high-level administration in Grands Corps d’Etat, this was not just a symbolic change. Ministry of Industry officials mainly come from the Corps Des Mines, in charge of nuclear and fossil industries, while those of the Ministry of Ecology are from the Corps Des Ponts, Des Eaux et Des Forêts, in charge of infrastructural and environmental planning.

8. A consultation on environmental policy conducted in 2008, which resulted in legislation in 2009 and 2010.

9. In theory, they had access to a FIT, but it was deliberately set too low to guarantee profitability.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by DIM R2DS Ile-de-France [Grant Number: 2010-13] and by the French National Research Agency (ANR) under [Grant Number: 2011-SOIN-003-01] (COLLENER project). The author has no financial interest or benefit arising from the direct application of research.