The French Association Environnement Juste has proposed a storage mandate for renewable energy projects above 10 kWp to integrate flexibility at source. The association argues that European sodium-ion batteries could be an economically and environmentally viable solution, capable of stabilizing networks without relying on imported metals.
By ESS news and pv magazine France
France’s new Multi-Year Energy Plan (PPE 3) aims for 48 GW of solar capacity by 2030, but does not set specific targets for energy storage. In a white paper recently submitted to the ministry, the Association Environnement Juste warned that this omission has technical consequences. For the French non-profit organization, the lack of flexibility turns deployment objectives into a ‘physical bottleneck’, threatening both the stability of the electricity grid and the coherence of the energy transition.
The association wants to see flexibility at the source and has proposed a minimum energy storage requirement for any new sustainable energy supply of more than 10 kW. “The principle is to make the producer responsible for the variability he supplies to the electricity grid,” says association chairman Tim Abady. This measure aims to internalize the costs of grid stabilization – currently borne by the public – and reduce the need for oversized electricity generation installations.
It is an approach that would also have an impact on land use in France, as the intermittent nature of the energy source requires ground-mounted solar farms to be built on a larger scale than necessary. This is because the French PPE 3 energy strategy reports peak power, the theoretical maximum power under ideal conditions, with an average load factor of approximately 13.5%. In practical terms, the announced 48 GWp will provide an average of only 6.5 GW of stable power. Without storage capacity to smooth out this intermittent generation, the grid must compensate for sudden fluctuations. It can do this by mobilizing manageable resources, often gas-fired power stations, but in the long term it also invests in upgrades to transmission infrastructure.
Mandatory storage would also prevent the waste of 1.6 TWh of contained energy in 2025 and save €4.8 billion by 2035. By embedding flexibility in the European industrial fabric, with players like TIAMAT or CATL in Europe, France can successfully navigate the transition without sacrificing the stability of electricity supply or agriculture.
From a technological point of view, the association considers sodium ion technology as the most suitable solution for this large-scale deployment. Unlike lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, this technology does not require lithium, cobalt or nickel – critical metals that are often imported. Recent industry data, particularly from manufacturer CATL, indicates cell costs of around €19 per kWh – three times less than LFP – and a lifespan of up to 15,000 cycles. European companies such as Tiamat Energy in France and Altris in Sweden are already shaping this sector.
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