France Imposes 4 Month Moratorium On New Solar Power Projects

Following a governmental meeting on solar power, François Fillon, the French Prime Minister, announced the decision to impose a four month moratorium on new solar power projects eligible for the current legal power purchase obligation feed in tariff.

This four month moratorium should allow the Government to prepare and adopt a new regulatory framework which will come into force in March 2011. The new rules aim to reach a target of 500MW of new solar projects per year and will include a decrease in the feed in tariffs.

A first draft of the decree addressing this moratorium has already been issued and is ready for discussions (hereinafter the "Decree").

According to the Decree, the following solar power installations are excluded from the freeze in the moratorium: