French MPs on Tuesday moved forward with a legislation to speed up the deployment of renewable vitality, because the nation’s nuclear vegetation endure a upkeep disaster and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drives up vitality prices.
Having secured uncommon assist from the left, President Emmanuel Macron’s minority administration is now a step nearer to reducing hurdles to constructing new photo voltaic and wind vegetation — together with large offshore wind farms.
Macron has set a goal of constructing 50 offshore vegetation by 2050, up from one at this time, to generate 40 gigawatts of electrical energy.
And he desires to multiply photo voltaic capability by 10, to prime 100 gigawatts.
Participating within the invoice’s first studying with paper slips after a technical error affected the digital voting system, 286 MPs backed the draft legislation with 238 in opposition to.
Agnes Pannier-Runacher, minister for vitality transition in Macron’s authorities, instructed AFP she welcomed the “accountable positions” taken by the Socialists and a small unbiased social gathering who supported the transfer.
Simply 19.3 % of France’s vitality consumption is sourced from renewables, wanting the 23-percent goal Macron’s authorities set in 2020 and solely barely forward of coal- and gas-intensive neighbour Germany.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine concurrently the nuclear energy disaster has upped the stress to spice up different sources of vitality.
Scheduled upkeep and corrosion issues have left 14 of France’s 56 reactors nonetheless offline.
Tuesday’s draft legislation will now be topic to compromise talks between MPs and senators — with the higher chamber fiercely defensive of mayors’ rights to have a say in native tasks.
In an preliminary compromise with the Senate, the federal government has promised to permit mayors to outline “acceleration zones” the place renewables may be constructed extra simply.
However the left fears that too many concessions might let native officers veto tasks.
“Nobody will be capable of jam up the system,” a supply near Pannier-Runacher instructed AFP forward of the vote.
The draft legislation contains provisions permitting tasks to be pressured by based mostly on “urgent wants of main public curiosity”.
With no majority in parliament, the federal government wooed the Greens and Socialists upfront of Tuesday’s vote to maneuver the invoice nearer to changing into legislation.
They secured an abstention from the ecologists and reluctant backing from the centre-left to recover from the road.
“Generally it’s a must to cooperate within the identify of the general public curiosity and the environmental disaster,” Socialist MP Dominique Potier mentioned, hailing “main advances” from his social gathering’s amendments.
In the meantime Greens chief Marine Tondelier mentioned “this is not a definitive abstention” however “we’re anticipating higher” from the ultimate invoice.
Their companions within the broad left-wing NUPES coalition in opposition to Macron, the Communists and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) social gathering, opposed the brand new legislation for its market focus.
On parliament’s proper, the conservative Republicans and far-right Nationwide Rally (RN) each oppose easing the development of renewables.
Wind generators “destroy our landscapes” and “set your eyes and your mind spinning”, RN lawmaker Pierre Meurin mentioned forward of the vote.
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A step in direction of photo voltaic fuels out of skinny air
Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Jan 05, 2023
A tool that may harvest water from the air and supply hydrogen fuel-entirely powered by photo voltaic energy-has been a dream for researchers for many years. Now, EPFL chemical engineer Kevin Sivula and his staff have made a major step in direction of bringing this imaginative and prescient nearer to actuality.
They’ve developed an ingenious but easy system that mixes semiconductor-based expertise with novel electrodes which have two key traits: they’re porous, to maximise contact with water within the air; and tran … learn extra