France, often touted as the "Nuclear Energy Economy", has been increasingly pushing for renewables since they held the Grenelle de l’Environnement meetings, where unions, the federal govt., NGOs, local authorities, and employers got together in 2007 to discuss how to transition to a cleaner economy.
After lagging behind countries like Spain and Germany on environmental issues for a long time, France is now moving from playing catch-up to joining the pack of trendsetters amongst large, industrialized countries:
they have instituted some of the best feed-in tariffs for solar power in the E.U.(based on the German model), they are ahead in pushing for vehicle electrification, the use of pesticides in agriculture is to be reduced by 50%, organic agriculture is to be tripled in size, they are running an insulation subsidization program, they have instituted pollution reduction measures, they set a 25 MW wind power target for 2020, and now comes the latest gem:
France Plans Group to Lay Solar Power Net, Handelsblatt Says
By Karin Matussek
May 20 (Bloomberg) -- France is forming a group of companies to lay an undersea power network that will bring electricity from North Africa to Europe, Handelsblatt reported.
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
This project, called Transgreen, will be transmitting the most abundant resources on this planet: solar power and wind power:
Transgreen aims to complement Desertec, the German-led energy project which aims to build a huge network of wind turbines and solar electricity sites in North Africa and the Middle East over the next 40 years.
http://www.globaltransmission.info/...
Since renewables and large nuclear power plants are not compatible in a modern electric grid and France is nonetheless pushing hard for vehicle electrification and a modernized grid, it looks like France is now firmly set on a course of joining other major European economies in transitioning from a nuclear and oil-based economy to a renewables-based economy.
More power to France - It is high time that the U.S. also joined the club