By America Hernandez PARIS, April 10 (Reuters) - France will spend up to 10 billion euros ($11.72 billion) annually through to 2030 to help the country switch to using electricity instead of oil and
France doubles electrification aid to cut fossil fuel dependency
France's Strategy to Reduce Reliance on Imported Fossil Fuels
By America Hernandez
PARIS, April 10 (Reuters) - France will double state support to 10 billion euros ($12 billion) a year through to 2030 to help its switch to electricity from oil and gas and their derivative fuels, its Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Friday.
Government Measures and Rationale
Measures including boosting the use of electric vehicles and modernising home heating are meant to help wean France off imported energy to avoid disruptions like those caused by the Iran war, which has stopped oil and gas cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz and destroyed Gulf energy infrastructure.
Current Energy Dependency
"Today 60% of our energy consumption comes from these imported fossil fuels, though our domestically produced power is three times cheaper," Lecornu said in a televised address.
"As long as we depend on oil and gas, we will continue to pay the price of other people's wars, which unfortunately will continue and will impoverish us," he added.
Funding and Fiscal Responsibility
Lecornu did not specify where the funding would come from, saying only that it would be done without new money, to ensure France met its public deficit targets.
Key Initiatives for Electrification
More Heat Pumps and Electric Vehicles
France aims to replace 85 Terawatt-hours worth of gas, or 20% of its annual import bill, with domestic power by 2030.
Heat Pump and Boiler Replacement
To achieve this, it will install an extra million heat pumps a year to 2030, and block new gas boilers for heating in newly constructed buildings from next year.
By 2050, 2 million units of social housing will be off gas heating, Lecornu said.
Electric Vehicle Targets and Incentives
The goal was also for two out of three new vehicles to be electric by 2030 in France, with the rollout of a social leasing programme on 100,000 EVs for low-income drivers and those who drive long distances on a daily basis for work.
Up to 100,000 euros per vehicle will also be available for electric utility vehicles and trucks, said Lecornu, who rejected the idea of lowering fuel taxes, which he said were costly to state coffers and only benefited oil-exporting countries.
Currency and Reporting Information
($1 = 0.8530 euros)
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and America Hernandez; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Alexander Smith)
