Agnès Pannier-Runacher returned a few months ago, on Tuesday afternoon, to the walls of the Senate. The Minister of Agriculture was interviewed by the Senate investigation commission on the production, consumption and price of electricity between now and 2035 and 2050 in her capacity as Minister of Energy Transition in office at the time of the crisis that triggered the electricity prices. A few weeks later the head of EDF, Luc Rémont, spoke in particular of the financing of new nuclear reactors in the coming years.
Thus, it determined three financing options: state guarantee systems with counterparties, regulated asset bases (BAR) and contracts for differences (CFD), the combination of the last two being particularly conducive to a reduction in the cost for the consumer, according to the member of the government. . “As for financing plans, it is necessary to regulate such important projects to reduce the cost of capital, because there will be no private counterpart capable of committing to these durations,” he stressed.
Long-term contracts are encouraged
If the combination of BAR and CFD could be considered, these two financing methods differ in the term of their implementation. “In the case of a BAR, we start at the time of construction and in the context of a CFD, we start at the time of operation, which means that for 15 years, the structure you invest in bears the costs but does not necessarily have the ability to pass them on to consumers, so the cost profile will be different, explains Agnès Pannier-Runacher. For the BAR, it will start earlier with a price that will be taken into account and that will decrease as the depreciation takes place. earlier.”
Regulated asset bases and contracts for differences are distinguished from long-term tools, that is, contracts through which energy companies and industrialists commit for periods of 10 to 15 years. The objective is to force them to assume a shared risk at the level of nuclear production to guarantee a more competitive price level than the market average. Other contracts for periods of four to five years also respond to this long-term vision.
Source: BFM TV
