France to spend 10 bln euros on boosting wind power
Date: 03-Apr-02
Country: FRANCE
France wants to increase its renewable energy sources to 21 percent of total demand in 2010 from the current 15 percent, mainly by tapping wind power, Industry Minister Christian Pierret told a conference.
"Wind power will be the largest contributer to this growth, because it has great potential in France," Pierret said.
"It is reasonable to estimate 20 to 30 terawatt hours (TWh) of windpower will be required to keep to our (European Union) commitments, which means about 10 MW of installed capacity or 10 billion euros of investments," he added.
France is hosting a global conference this week on wind power, a growing source of clean energy, amid fears of continued high oil prices and international concern about so-called greenhouse emissions blamed for warming the atmosphere.
The conference comes on the heels of tension within France's centre-left ruling coalition over the place of nuclear power in supplying the country's energy needs, less than three weeks ahead of elections.
Although Europe's top electricity exporter, France is still only the region's fourth smallest generator of wind power since it currently relies on nuclear reactors to supply nearly 80 percent of its needs.
By the end of last year, France had 78 MW of wind power generation, just a fraction of Europe's wind powerhouse Germany with 8,754 MW of windpower capacity.
Wind power is also a tiny part of France's total generating capacity of 115,000 MW, with the rest of its renewable energy supplies coming from hydroelectric dams.
By contrast, one single nuclear reactor produces 1,000 MW.
To allay fears that wind farms can be an eyesore, France says it is planning to develop wind farms offshore. For now its wind farms are all on dry land.
"We need to call for tenders for at least 1,500 MW of offshore windpower generation as soon a possible," Pierret said.
In a report in January, the industry ministry said it would have to boost investment in renewable energy and curb energy demand to prevent power shortfalls over the next nine years.