Debate on the future of the photovoltaic sector

While a ground-based solar project or one on an existing roof may be delayed, the same cannot be said for projects where a solar roof has been planned for a long time on a new factory, a school, or a warehouse under construction. These projects are carried out under contracts where the photovoltaic operator covers the entire "roofing" service. If we fail to do so: there is no roof on the structure!

We, like other colleagues, are faced with inextricable situations, where the construction site is well advanced, we find ourselves obliged to abandon, despite contractual obligations, the installation of the solar roof: we no longer have, because of the murderous decree, neither a customer for electricity, nor a bank to finance us. And it will be impossible to repair the "broken pots" at the possible end of the "moratorium" in 3 months, a deadline which is also very uncertain.

Multiple lawsuits will follow: our customers against us; us against the State and against ERDF. 

Our clients against us: indeed, our clients have suffered significant losses. Who will now finance the roofs of these factories? This is despite the financial plans having been finalized for a long time. These operations sometimes took two or even three years to complete. And delays in delivering the buildings in question can have serious consequences for all parties, as in the case of this new factory in the Marseille region, which was due to welcome its 300 employees by mid-year, and now finds itself without a roof!

Us versus the State: The decree, with its retroactivity, is manifestly illegal. Against ERDF: ERDF is equally clearly at fault for failing to comply with the rules it so vigorously imposes on photovoltaic operators. It was required, by regulation and contract, to return the "PTF," or connection contract proposal, within three months. However, for many projects, this deadline has not been met, whether intentionally or not. The State will undoubtedly be punished by the courts for its inept and illegal management of the sector. But who will still be there when justice is done?

The State has truly acted as a "breaker" of the photovoltaic sector, under the pretext of alleged overheating*. The industry is first broken by the planned disappearance of many medium and small operators, who were wrong to believe the government's word. But more seriously, the French industry is definitively broken by the lasting disappearance of trust in the government's commitments. Investors, and especially bankers, will no longer view the projects presented without great suspicion. Who can believe that the next regulation resulting from the so-called consultation will last longer than the previous ones? Already today, the banks, already very cautious, are preparing to leave this market. Foreign investors, who were ready to invest in France (and therefore pay for these shamefully imported panels!) will seek more reliable investment opportunities.

Who will benefit from this assassination of operators, accused of being speculators? 

First, to the speculators, precisely! To the real ones, those who have invested nothing, and who are now coming out of the shadows to buy up at low prices the projects of small operators who have become unfinanceable.

Also, to one or two very large companies, very close to EDF and the State services, which have been able to advance their pawns well, in unequal competition, and which will now have a clear field.

Finally, to the nuclear industry, of course, which will be able to reserve all the political potential for increasing the price per kWh, which it so desperately needs to finance the renovation of old power plants, the staggering cost of EPRs, and perhaps finally the gigantic decommissioning provisions. Not to mention the financing of EDF's €44 billion debt.

*By the end of 2010, France will have installed a cumulative total of around 900 MWc, or a tenth of what Germany will have installed in 2010 alone!

HEAVEN AND EARTH in Brief Since 2006, Ciel et Terre has been designing, operating, and developing large-scale industrial rooftop photovoltaic solar power plants in France and Réunion Island (over 2 m²) and on the ground, dedicated to the production of clean energy. Today, more than 000 m² of rooftops have been installed, representing a power output of 80 MWp.    www.ciel-et-terre.net