Paris (AFP)
Renewable energies have continued to grow and provided more than a quarter of the electricity consumed in France last year, thanks to hydro and wind farms, according to a report published on Tuesday.
"Renewable energies contributed 26.9% to the coverage of electricity consumption in metropolitan France during the year 2020", indicates the Syndicate of Renewable Energies (SER) in a report published with other partners, including the electricity transmission (RTE) and distribution (Enedis) networks.
This is an increase of almost four points compared to the figures for 2019 (23.1%), which "is explained by a historic renewable production of 120.7 TWh (increase of 10.4% compared to 2019) and by a decrease in consumption due to the sanitary situation ".
In detail, production was driven by wind (+ 17.3%) and hydro (+ 9.3%).
The total capacity of the renewable park installed also continued to increase last year, reaching 55,906 MW at the end of 2020, an increase of 2,039 MW.
This growth was driven by wind power (+1.105 MW) and solar (+820 MW).
However, it is still the hydroelectric park that dominates the French landscape even if its power has remained almost stable.
Excluding renewables, France still depends heavily on nuclear power for the production of its electricity, with a share of over 70% in recent years.
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