EDF Announces Big Push into Solar, Sees Cost at 25 Billion Euros

French state-owned utility EDF announced on Monday plans for a big push into solar energy in France that is likely to cost around 25 billion euros as the government tries to meet its climate goals.

Speaking a day before Paris hosts a climate summit, the company’s CEO said EDF aimed to build 30 gigawatt (GW) of solar capacity from 2020 to 2035 and that the investment would be mainly funded by equity partners, project financing, and loans.

“EDF’s solar plan is in line with the government target of rebalancing the French electricity generation mix thanks to the massive deployment of renewables,” Jean-Bernard Levy told reporters.

France wants to reduce the share of nuclear in power generation from 75 percent today to 50 percent by around 2035 and wants to massively boost renewables investment.

Levy said that given strong opposition against wind turbine construction, solar was virtually the only option for boosting renewables capacity.

EDF - which had just 0.2 GW of solar capacity in France at the end of 2016 - will build on average 2 GW of solar capacity per year for 15 years, starting with 1.5 GW per year in 2020-2025, then 2 GW/year in 2026-30 and 2.5 GW/year in 2031-35.

“We are not number one in solar today in France, but we want to build up a leadership position,” he said.

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