France's National Assembly begins debating the second part of the 2027 budget bill on Tuesday, October 27, and one of its most contested provisions for the solar sector is Article 82. The article would allow the state to revise or end support contracts for thousands of existing solar installations, and the industry warns that billions of euros of investment are at stake.
What Article 82 would do
According to pv magazine, the article would allow early termination of solar contracts signed between 2006 and 2010 for installations larger than 250 kW. It would also extend the obligation to stop generating during negative-price periods to installations from 100 kW, with reduced compensation for the curtailed output.
French trade publication Les Energies Renouvelables reports that the article also targets the newer S21 feed-in tariff for rooftop installations of 300 to 500 kWp. After an audit by the energy regulator CRE, tariffs on contracts that have already been signed could be revised. The stated rationale is a gap between a target tariff of 92 EUR/MWh notified to Brussels and an average observed tariff of about 110 EUR/MWh.
The government aims to save about EUR 120 million in 2027.
What the industry says
The French Renewable Energy Association (SER) says more than 8,000 S21 contracts would be affected and that the scheme has supported about EUR 10 billion of investment, much of it by farmers, small businesses and local companies. SER signed a joint statement against the measure with ELE, Enerplan, GMPV-FFB, FNCCR and the farmers' union FNSEA. The National Solar Energy Federation (FNES) says it is not asking for new subsidies, only stable rules for contracts that already exist.
A first defeat in committee
The economic affairs committee of the National Assembly has already voted to delete Article 82, backing an amendment led by Julie Laernoes of the Ecologist and Social group and co-signed by 35 lawmakers. Laernoes argued that revisiting signed contracts would create major uncertainty.
But the committee vote is only an opinion. Because the plenary examines the government's original text, the deletion must be tabled and voted again in the chamber, and the government could propose a rewritten version. Deleting the article in full would also remove several measures the sector wanted, such as easier switching from feed-in tariffs to direct sales or self-consumption.
What comes next
The solemn vote on the whole budget is planned for November 17. The bill then goes to the Senate, where the measure could return, with final adoption expected by the end of December.
It would not be the first attempt. In November 2020, the Assembly adopted a government amendment to revise 2006 to 2010 solar contracts by 91 votes to 32.
What it means for European developers
The outcome matters well beyond France. Retroactive changes to signed support contracts raise the risk premium for every renewable project, because investors price in the chance that the state may change the rules later. If Article 82 survives, lenders across Europe will take note. If it is dropped, it will strengthen the principle that existing contracts are honoured even when budgets are tight.
Source: pv magazine, citing SER; additional details from Les Energies Renouvelables.
