French plans to support combined heat, power plants get EU green light

The executive body of the European Union (EU) Tuesday approved French state-aid plans to support combined heat and power plants.

"The scheme will reduce CO2 emissions and improve energy efficiency, in line with EU energy and climate goals, without unduly distorting competition," the European Commission said in a statement.

The French scheme will provide support to high efficiency combined heat and power plants with a power output up to 1 megawatt (MW), the statement said.

High efficiency combined heat and power units provide at least 10 percent primary energy savings as compared to units that produce heat and electricity separately, the regulators noted.

According to the EU laws, member states are allowed to grant state aid for high efficiency combined heat and power plants, but the type of support these units can receive depends on their size: plant which output up to 1 MW will receive support in the form of a feed-in-premium on top of the market price while plant which output up to 300 kilowatt will receive support in the form of a feed-in tariff.

The EU regulators found that the French scheme promotes the integration of electricity produced by combined heat and power plants into the market, in line with the EU laws.

Only small installations can benefit from feed-in tariffs, whilst larger installations will receive support through a premium, such as a top-up on the market price, which exposes them to market signals.

The scheme will also support the refurbishing of existing plants, for example to increase their efficiency or extend their operational lifetime,the statement said.

It is said the scheme will help France to reach its energy efficiency and CO2 emission reduction targets by supporting the deployment of around 7 MW of additional generation capacity. Endit