FRANCE

SUPPORTING POLICIES FOR OCEAN ENERGY 

NATIONAL STRATEGY
The Energy Act (Loi de Transition Energétique pour la Croissance Verte), adopted in August 2015, defines an aim of 40% renewable energy in the electricity mix by 2030. In application of this Energy Act, on October 27th 2016, the multi-annual Energy Programme (Programmation pluriannuelle de l’énergie) defined specific objectives in terms of installed capacity of the various energy sectors for electricity production. A complementary objective is set between 200 and 2000 MW as an additional capacity to be awarded for marine energy (again, ocean energy and floating offshore wind) based on the feedback and cost improvements from the pilot farms demonstrations. In line with these targets, two calls for tenders for commercial arrays have been announced to be open by the 1st semester of 2017, for tidal current and floating wind respectively.

In order to calculate the total installed capacity by 2023, the given figures must also include the operational tidal range barrage of 240 MW of the Rance river running since 1966, as well as one 10.6 MW OTEC plant scheduled to be operational before this date.

In parallel, France has accelerated its Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) by launching a consultation in 2016, and pursues identification of dedicated sites for ocean energy projects.

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
A simplification of the consenting process was initiated by the French Government in 2014 in order to accelerate the development of projects. Ocean energy project developers in France must fulfil the following permitting and licensing process:

• A single permit regarding environmental issues, which includes an environmental impact assessment (EIA), if needed, one focusing on Natura 2000 impacts, and one dedicated to protected species, delivered by the Prefect. Within this permitting procedure, a public consultation is organized by the State;
   
• If located in territorial waters, a license to occupy the maritime public domain, which takes into account maritime safety and the use of maritime territories and is delivered by the Prefect. This licensing requires a public consultation which can be combined with the preceding process.
   
• For farms above 50 MW, an authorization to generate electricity delivered by the Ministry of Energy. This authorization is automatically delivered to the laureates of State calls for tender.

In addition, the developer signs a grid connection convention with the French Transmission System Operator (TSO). 

MARKET INCENTIVES
Until May 2016, the Feed-In Tariff for ocean energy systems was set at € 173/MWh. In addition to this scheme, grants and reimbursable loans are awarded to prototypes and pre-commercial pilot arrays. As an example, the 2 tidal pilot arrays of the Raz Blanchard/Alderney Race of respectively 14 and 5.4 MW of installed capacity are under development with a total public support of €103 million.

In order to attract industrial investments, the next phase in policy (e.g. for commercial arrays) relies on calls for tenders, in a competition where a major part of the selection criteria relies on the assessed price per MWh.

PUBLIC FUNDING PROGRAMMES
In France, the general framework for the national public funding in MRE comes through the Investment for the Future Programme. Two main agencies are then involved in managing these funds through calls for tenders, namely ADEME (Environment and Energy Agency) and ANR (National Research Agency).

In 2016, newly awarded funds by ADEME have thus been directed to 4 pilot arrays of floating wind turbines (around 24 MW each, 3 in the Mediterranean Sea and 1 in the Atlantic Ocean) and to river turbine arrays (some at estuaries where turbines function like a small capacity tidal array). Ongoing projects issued from calls for tenders of previous years also involve wave energy converters, tidal turbine prototypes and technological bricks, like subsea connectors or hubs, foundation concepts, specific dredging or installation tools, etc. In 2016, ANR awarded financing to 9 MRE R&D projects throughout the “Institute for the Energy Transition” call for tenders. These public-private collaborative projects tackle technological bottlenecks and environmental issues.

The Public Bank of Investments (BPI France) also buys shares in SME’s. For instance, in 2016 it was among the investors that increased by €8 million Sabella’s capital.

All along the French coastline, at the regional level, local authorities also support the endeavours of the MRE sector. In addition to grants allocated to R&D federative programmes, like the national institute France Energies Marines, or to local initiatives like WEAMEC and ONEM, they invest in harbour facilities in order to enable the development of offshore wind and tidal industries, thus providing enough space to build plants along new quays, e.g. in Cherbourg, Brest and St-Nazaire.

The two French competitive Sea clusters, Pôle Mer Bretagne-Atlantique and Pôle Mer Méditerranée, have MRE in their roadmaps. By a labelling process, they foster interest in collaborative projects that can apply to national funds (e.g. the common inter-ministerial fund, FUI), as long as the expected results of those projects can be quickly marketable.