France is considering a move to tap into its mineral resource base faster to push for greater self-sufficiency in the green energy transition.
According to the country's finance minister Bruno Le Maire cited by Bloomberg, the potential measures include halving the time needed to obtain research permits for geothermal energy, mining and carbon dioxide storage.
“Let’s use France’s strengths,” Le Maire said in a speech at the opening of a new geothermal plant project. “We’ve got wind, hydro, biomass, solar energy, as well as resources in our soil that we must quickly use.”
France may get back into domestic copper mining projects after more than a two-decade halt due to a growing need from the renewable energy sector, while new lithium projects may cover two-thirds of the country's needs for electric-vehicle batteries by 2035, according to the government.
Meanwhile, France’s national geothermal action plan, published in 2023, aims to triple the production of renewable heat from deep geothermal energy to 6 terawatt hours between 2022 and 2028. It also seeks to triple renewable heat from geothermal heat pumps by 2030 to 10 terawatt hours.
Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief of the European bureau, Rough&Polished
