Economic Analysis of Renewable Energy Regulation in France: A Case Study for Photovoltaic Plants Based on Real Options

In this work, a novel methodology based on the real options theory has been developed for the evaluation of photovoltaic energy projects with a capacity greater than 100 KW in France. French legislation that regulates these types of projects presents two real options: on the one hand, the producer has a put option that consists of choosing between a Feed-in Tariff system and electricity market sale prices every year, and this put option coincides with public subsidies granted by the French Administration. On the other hand, the French Administration has a call option that provides a benefit to the public sector. This option supposes a limit on the subsidized production of electricity and reduces the value of the project to the promoter. The value of the put option is 4.28 Euro per MWh generated. The Extended Net Present Value has a value of -5.26 million Euros. The breakeven point of the project is achieved with an increase of 59% in the regulated rate. This means that the French Administration must increase the value of public subsidies if it wants to develop large-scale projects.