Energy in France is the energy and electricity production, consumption and import in France. Nuclear power accounted for 72.3% of total electricity production in 2016, while renewables and fossil fuels accounted for 17.8% and 8.6%, respectively. France has the largest share of nuclear electricity in the world. The country is also among the world's biggest net exporters of electricity.
Overview
Electricity
The electricity sector in France is dominated by nuclear power, which accounted for 72.3% of total production in 2016, while renewables and fossil fuels accounted for 17.8% and 8.6%, respectively. France has the largest share of nuclear electricity in the world. The country is also among the world's biggest net exporters of electricity. The French nuclear power sector is almost entirely owned by the French government and the degree of the government subsidy is difficult to ascertain because of a lack of transparency. In 2010, as part of the progressive liberalisation of the energy marketunder EU directives, France agreed the Accès régulé à l'électricité nucléaire historique regulations that allowed third party suppliers access up to about a quarter of France's pre-2011 nuclear generation capacity, at a fixed price of €42/MWh from 1 July 2011 until 31 December 2025.
Companies
is the main electricity generation and distribution company in France. It was founded on April 8, 1946 as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors by the Communist Minister of Industrial Production Marcel Paul. Until November 19, 2004 it was a government corporation, but it is now a limited-liability corporation under private law. The French government partially floated shares of the company on the Paris Stock Exchange in November 2005, although it retains almost 85% ownership as of the end of 2007. EDF held a monopoly in the distribution, but not the production, of electricity in France until 1999, when the first European Union directive to harmonize regulation of electricity markets was implemented. EDF is one of the world's largest producers of electricity. In 2003, it produced 22% of the European Union's electricity, primarily from nuclear power:
A report was published in 2011 by the World Energy Council in association with Oliver Wyman, entitled Policies for the future: 2011 Assessment of country energy and climate policies, which ranks country performance according to an energy sustainability index. The best performers were Switzerland, Sweden, and France.
Renewable energy
expected strong growth in France in 2009 and 2010, partly because of an expected decline in the price of solar panels and partly because of subsidies introduced in 2006 making themselves felt. France should be a key driver for solar together with Italy during 2009-2010. Piper Jaffray believes that France would add 500 megawatts of capacity in both 2009 and 2010. France has 50 megawatts of solar power capacity now. Hydroelectric dams in France include Eguzon dam, Étang de Soulcem, and Lac de Vouglans. In July 2015, the French parliament passed a comprehensive energy and climate law that includes a mandatory renewable energy target requiring 40% of national electricity production to come fromrenewable sources by 2030. For context, 19.5% of the country's electricity was generated by renewable energy in 2014.
