Marine Le Pen says five more years of Macron will be 'worse'
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As the EU scrambles to wean itself off fossil fuels to reach climate targets, the French President has placed a huge bet on nuclear energy as the driving force for his country’s energy transition. Mr Macron has a €50billion (£43billon) plot to build at least six new nuclear reactors in the coming decades. He also plans to extend the lifespan of existing plants.
But France, which already generates 70 percent of its electricity through nuclear power, could be in trouble.
That’s because placing too much focus on this one energy source could be scuppering the chances to develop other renewable technologies, which are also vital for the clean energy transition.
It comes after Slovakia’s energy ministry cited its country’s focus on nuclear energy as a reason for the slow development of other renewable energies in the country.
According to its analysis, the share of renewables in Slovakia’s energy mix could reach 23 to 24 percent by 2030.
But as the EU’s Fit for 55 has a target of slashing emissions in the bloc by 55 percent by 2030, it could be implied that a far larger amount of renewables would need to be included in its energy mix to help reach this target.
And in Slovakia, nuclear energy makes up around half of all produced electricity.
But in France, as stated earlier, the share of nuclear-producing electricity is even higher.
Despite this, Mr Macron is still pushing for even more nuclear power to be included in the country’s energy mix, which could lead him on the path to clash with the EU.
He said back in February: “What our country needs and the conditions are there, is the rebirth of France’s nuclear industry.”
As well as building six new reactors, the French President also wants to extend the lifespan of older nuclear plants to more than 50 years from the expected 40 years currently expected for certain reactors.
This is despite Mr Macron’s predecessor Francois Hollande setting a target to limit nuclear power’s share of the electricity generation mix to 50 percent by 2025.
And in May 2019, Mr Macron pledged to delay this target to 2035.
Mr Macron had also pledged to close more than a dozen of the 56 reactors by 2035 belonging to its state-owned EDF.
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But it is looking unlikely that France will reduce nuclear power’s share in the energy mix at all due to the French President’s nuclear U-turn.
And the French President appears confident in this decision.
He said: “Certain countries have made the extreme choice of turning their back on nuclear energy. France has not made that choice.”
But while Slovakia is concerned that the focus on nuclear energy is pushing other renewable technologies aside, Mr Macron does appear to be making room for other energy sources.
France has plans to boost its solar power capacity tenfold by 2050 to more than 100 gigawatts (GW).
It will also aim to build 50 offshore wind farms with a combined capacity of at least 40 GW.
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