(Science|Business) France nears agreement on 2035 energy plan, but much remains to be solved

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After a more than two-year delay, France’s multiannual energy programme may finally see the light of day, charting the path for decarbonising its economy, sector by sector, from 2026. Prime minister Sébastien Lecornu said that he wants “to make decisions by Christmas,” without specifying whether or not a draft would be put to a vote. Some observers believe that he could try to enact a watered-down version of it by decree to take the heat out of discussions, even though the debate between proponents of nuclear power and renewables advocates is far from resolved.

“The multiannual energy plan is ready, everyone knows that,” Agnès-Pannier Runacher, former ecological transition minister, said in the French National Assembly. “Its publication isn’t being delayed due to technical adjustments, but by the stances of certain political groups which, driven by ideology, pit nuclear power against renewable energies.”

The roadmap is meant to guide France’s move away from fossil fuels and electrification of energy uses through to 2035.

Meanwhile, the new regulatory framework for selling state-owned utility firm EDF’s electricity to competitors based on revenue-sharing and consumer protection, will enter into effect in January, despite failing to win unanimous support. The French government has also entrusted former EDF chief Jean-Bernard Lévy with a mission to help it rethink public support to renewables, and whose outcomes are expected early next year. France will implement new electricity market reforms as part of broad EU-wide changes from 2026, including changes in the integration of renewables into grid operations and grid tariff reforms for energy storage.