Wind power developments in France

Summary form only given. Launched in February 1996, the EOLE 2005 program was designed to provide new impetus to the development of wind energy in France. Its goal was to achieve 250 to 500 MW of installed wind power by the year 2005. In the context of this program, 55 projects have been selected between 1997 and 2000, for a total power capacity of 361 MW. However, according to the recently adopted European Directive on the promotion of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES), the target for France in 2010 is 21% of the electricity consumption produced by means of RES. This represents an increase of about 6% with respect to 1997. On the other hand, the French Government has clearly shown its intention to further promote the development of wind energy in the French power system. For instance, special purchase tariffs were fixed for wind power in December 2000. Moreover, objectives in France of more than 5000 MW of installed wind power by the year 2010 have already been announced. As a consequence of these incentives, a significant expansion of wind energy in France is expected to take place in the rather near future. Due to this expected increase of wind power on the network, grid connection issues become more and more important. The connection of wind farms to the grid gives rise to new and sometimes challenging problems, particularly when they are connected to distribution networks. In France, the grid connection rules are specified in ministerial orders. They apply to all types of dispersed generation units, and hence also to wind power plants. Moreover, two government decrees on the grid connection rules are presently in preparation.