French Power Purchase Agreements

Overview

This is a working document, not a market report. It assumes you are about to sign something in France, or about to ask someone else to.

France has cheaper clean power than any large European market this guide compares it against, and one of Europe's thinnest corporate PPA markets. The guide explains why — ARENH and what replaced it, the State's tenders as the competing offer, price formation and the capture collapse — and then works through what to negotiate, in what order, what each concession costs in euro, and which French instrument decides the answer.

Written for buyers and sellers alike. French statutory provisions are quoted in French with their in-force dates, every figure carries a date and a source, and the directory of French PPA offtakers records each agreement as announced and no further.

What this edition covers

Eighteen parts: the French map; the paradox of cheap clean power and a thin PPA market; life after ARENH; the State as the competing offer; choosing a structure in France; what you are really buying; price formation and the capture collapse; finding and testing the counterparty; the term sheet; the risk register in French conditions; bankability; French law and the contract, with fourteen provisions quoted in French and dated; negotiation; execution, grid and settlement; tax, accounting and attributes; France-specific pitfalls; a worked example across three routes; and endgame. Closes with a five-page tear-out field checklist, a directory of French PPA offtakers from January 2024 to September 2026, and reference appendices including a French–English glossary, a citation register and a clause concordance.

Who this is for

Buyers, sellers, developers, lenders and advisers negotiating or financing a power purchase agreement for a French asset or a French buyer.

What you get

• Written for both sides of the table, not just the buyer
• Fourteen provisions of French law, quoted in French with their in-force dates
• Deal evidence from French transactions
• What This Costs You — the price of conceding each point
• Ask Before You Sign — questions to put to the counterparty
• A worked example: one French asset, three routes to market
• A five-page tear-out French field checklist
• Directory of French PPA offtakers, 2024–2026, recorded as announced
• French–English glossary, citation register and clause concordance

Table of contents

1. How to use this guide
2. Part 0 — The French Map: Who sits where in a French power purchase agreement, and where the margin is actually made
3. Part 1 — The Paradox: Cheaper clean power than Germany or Italy on RTE's own 2027 comparison, and one of Europe's thinnest corporate PPA markets
4. Part 2 — After ARENH: The nuclear regime that shaped twenty years of French contracting, the rebate that replaced it, and the volume neither of them gives you
5. Part 3 — The Competing Offer: What the State pays, what it procures, and why the tender — not the market — sets the price your counterparty will accept
6. Part 4 — Choosing Your Structure in France: Six routes to the same megawatt-hour, one licensing provision that decides which of them you can sign, and a twenty-year ceiling nobody imports
7. Part 5 — What You Are Really Buying: Energy, shape, firmness, attributes and capacity — five products priced separately, even when the term sheet quotes one number
8. Part 6 — Price Formation and the Capture Collapse: One zone, three negative-hour counts, and a reference price that leaves the worst hours out of its own average
9. Part 7 — Finding and Testing the Counterparty: Who the French sellers are, whose balance sheet stands behind them, and the difference between a queue position and a project
10. Part 8 — The Term Sheet: Twelve decisions that fix most of the value before a lawyer has drafted a word — and the one the French market answers differently at home than abroad
11. Part 9 — The Risk Register: R1 to R8 in French conditions — who is better placed to carry each, the French reason why, and the clause that moves it
12. Part 10 — Bankability: What a French lender can actually fund against — the capture floor, the merchant tail, and the hedge nobody can show you
13. Part 11 — French Law and the Contract: Fourteen provisions, quoted in French and dated — including the two that decide whether a judge can rewrite your price
14. Part 12 — Negotiation: Sequence, leverage and the order in which to give things away — in a market where neither side can see the other's alternative
15. Part 13 — Execution, Grid and Settlement: Raccordement, the quote-part, balance responsibility and TURPE 7 — the four regimes that turn a strike price into a delivered cost
16. Part 14 — Tax, Accounting and Attributes: The accise, the CTA, IFER and IFRS 9 — four regimes sitting between the price the two sides agree and the number each of them books
17. Part 15 — Pitfalls: Fifteen France-specific ways this goes wrong — seven from the buyer's chair, eight from the seller's
18. Part 16 — The Worked Example: Garonne Solaire and Atelier Nord — one asset, three routes, and what a tender tariff actually pays once it is modelled as the top-up it is
19. Part 17 — Endgame: Default, termination, assignment, repowering and expiry
20. Tear-out — The French Field Checklist: Five pages. Everything in a French PPA that changes an outcome, and nothing that does not.
21. Directory — French PPA Offtakers, 2024–2026: Agreements first announced between 1 January 2024 and 25 September 2026 — recorded as announced, and no further
22. Appendices — Reference: French–English glossary · The citation register · On sources · Clause concordance · Index · Sources and references

Research and sources

Every figure carries a date and a source; statutory provisions read from Légifrance in October 2026. Includes a numbered sources and references section, a citation register, a clause concordance and an index.

Licensing

Single-user licence. For use by the named licensee only. Redistribution, resale, posting to shared drives or internal circulation beyond the named licensee is a breach of licence. Team licences covering up to five named users are available.