France cancels wind power feed-in tariff as ‘state aid’

France’s highest administrative court has cancelled the feed-in tariff for wind power arguing that it constitutes illegal state aid, in a decision announced on Wednesday.

The decision by the Conseil d’Etat leaves wind power producers without subsidies to support their projects, while they could theoretically be required to pay back the money they have received in support so far.

French wind lobby group France Energie Eolienne (FEE) estimates that this would cost the industry “millions of euros” in a statement on Wednesday, with the absence of the feed-in tariff expected to have an adverse impact on investment into the wind sector until a new tariff is in place.

France has 8.2GW of onshore and offshore wind generation installed, according to data from grid operator RTE. EDF had been mandated to buy onshore wind power at €82.00/MWh since a 2008 law came into effect.

Last year the European Court of Justice confirmed that France’s feed-in tariff contravened state aid regulations, as France failed to notify the European Commission of the subsidy back in 2008. The government only managed to notify the Commission of the scheme as recently as 2013 ( see EDEM 19 December 2013 ).

Earlier in the month the French Conseil d’Etat had been advised by the Rapporteur Public, an independent magistrate, to scrap the subsidised tariff paid for onshore wind power generation in effect since 2008 ( see EDEM 8 May 2014 ). Christopher Rene