The French government has confirmed plans to allow PV installations paired with battery energy storage systems (BESS) to reach up to 25 MW of installed capacity, up from the current 17 MW, provided grid exports do not exceed 17 MW. The exemption is planned by the end of 2026 as part of a broader package of measures to accelerate electrification and improve electricity flexibility.
Following an initial phase presented in April, Maud Bregeon, France’s minister delegate for energy, has announced a new set of measures to accelerate the electrification of the economy. The government estimates that better control of residential heating, domestic hot water, and electric vehicle charging could reduce associated household expenses by 35%.
From 2027, the government plans to make heat pump subsidies conditional on the equipment’s ability to be controlled. It estimates annual savings of €150 ($168) to €200 for affected households.
For electric vehicle charging, the government intends to work with industry on making smart charging the default for newly installed infrastructure. Options include connecting chargers to Linky smart meters or using connectivity features to automatically shift charging to off-peak hours. Potential savings are estimated at €70 to €100 per year for equipped households. Industry energy-metering systems will also incorporate flexibility requirements.
The plan seeks to expand the use of Linky smart meters to control residential equipment. Although the meters already support some applications, including domestic hot-water production, the government says their other capabilities remain underused. It wants to encourage their integration into the wider residential flexibility ecosystem.
The solar-plus-storage exemption is intended to facilitate grid connections for installations combining renewable energy, particularly solar, with battery storage. Projects will be able to install up to 25 MW of capacity while limiting exports to 17 MW.
The government also plans to test new forward electricity products marketed by EDF Obligation d’Achat, France’s EDF power-purchase obligation entity, that reflect the production profile of solar PV. The initiative follows measures announced by the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). The products are intended to encourage electricity suppliers to offer tariffs that shift consumption toward midday solar hours, when electricity is cheaper, bringing consumption profiles closer to generation patterns.
Several companies and industry groups have announced deployment targets. Gimelec, a French trade association representing digital and electrical equipment companies, has pledged to mobilize 6 GW of flexibility in the commercial and services sector. It plans to contribute to the installation of control systems across 50% of the existing building stock.
EDF aims to enable large-scale control of energy-intensive equipment used by five million customers by 2030. The program will cover heating, domestic hot water, heat pumps, and electric mobility. EDF plans to use its EDF & Moi application to connect and control equipment, with the ambition of becoming its customers’ personal energy manager.
Independent power producer Neoen plans to deploy 1 GW of flexibility capacity by 2030. French energy storage company NW has pledged to invest EUR 1 billion over the same period to add 1.5 GW of capacity to its electricity flexibility platform. It also wants to open the platform to industrial and residential consumers seeking to monetize their consumption flexibility.
Octopus Energy France has committed to controlling 1.5 million devices by 2030, representing 5 GW to 6 GW of flexible capacity. It also plans to return EUR 100 million in savings to households, deploy 15,000 controllable heat pumps, and invest EUR 150 million in a heat pump factory, provided sufficient volumes materialize.
From pv magazine France
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