France is planning to close a third of its nuclear reactors in favor of turning 620 miles of road into solar panels.
An annual report published Wednesday by the French government revealed a law passed last November could force Electricite de France (EDF), a state-controlled utility, to close up to a third of its 58 nuclear reactors by 2025. The law requires France to reduce the share of nuclear energy production from 75 percent now to only 50 percent by 2025. This could lead to the closure of 17 to 20 nuclear reactors.
Under optimal conditions, the solar panels will only be capable of providing 8 percent of France’s need for electricity, which leaves a huge gap in the amount of energy required even if solar power was capable of operating consistently like nuclear reactors.
France’s Agency of Environment and Energy Management claims that four meters of solar road is enough to supply one household’s electricity needs, apart from heating. Actual calculations from an electronics design engineer disagree vehemently.
Scientists have repeatedly criticized schemes to cover roads with solar panels. Realistic, the system would be incredibly inefficient and unable to generate substantial amounts of energy and wouldn’t be capable of serving as a road. Despite this criticism, the American Department of Transportation gave out $750,000 in grants to fund a similar scheme.
Covering the road with solar panels will damage France’s power grid, which is set up to handle nuclear energy. In order for any power grid to function, demand for energy must exactly match supply. Power demand is relatively predictable and nuclear plants can adjust output accordingly. Solar power of any type cannot easily adjust output and is thus unpredictable relative to nuclear power.
France will fund the project by taxing the oil industry. Despite this plan, there are no cost estimates on how much the solar roads could cost.
The law requiring nuclear reactors to be shutdown in favor of solar power is extremely controversial in France as it stems from a promise made by French President François Hollande during the 2012 election to prop up his temporary alliance with the anti-nuclear The Greens party.
“Only a very significant increase of electricity use or power exports could limit the number of closures but experts do not expect this will happen,” an auditor told Reuters. The auditor estimates upgrading EDF’s ageing reactors will cost $112.79 billion by 2030.
EDF owns most of France’s reactors, but the company has serious financial problems and many of its projects have credit ratings below investment grade. The company is more than $40 billion in debt. Shares in EDF have fallen 55 percent over the past year, reducing its market capitalization to only $23.6 billion. The French government owns 85 percent of EDF.
Shutting down reactors is a major policy shift as reactors and fuel products and services are a major French export. The country is the world’s largest net exporter of electricity and mainly sells to Italy, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain. This earns France about $3.38 billion annually. France has also been very active in developing nuclear technology and is building some of the world’s most advanced reactors.
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