French Guiana aims for 100% renewable energy by 2027

A dual objective of 100% renewable energy by 2027 and self-sufficiency in electricity production by 2030. French Guiana's next Multi-Year Energy Program (PPE) is not lacking in ambition. But can this Amazonian department of 300,000 inhabitants afford it?

The parliamentary report on regional planning, to be carried out in 2023, considers that the goal is achievable given that, thanks to solar and hydropower, the electricity mix already reaches 73% renewable energy.

A prospect that Arnaud Flament, regional representative of the Renewable Energy Union (SER), is delighted with. "It's a performance to be welcomed, unparalleled for an area not interconnected to the continental electricity grid," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

On the other hand, the organization deplores a lack of ambition on the other aspect of this PPE: energy autonomy, an objective nevertheless included in the "energy transition for green growth" law of 2015.

"We believe that we could have gone much further by integrating more endogenous renewable electricity sources in a territory with significant potential, and thus limiting the use of imported bioliquids to the strict minimum," underlines Arnaud Flament.

In its sights: the supply method for the future Larivot power plant, which will run on liquid biomass from rapeseed. To run its plant, EDF will have to import 100,000 tonnes per year, as there is currently no biofuel production sector on site.

The PPE, whose consultation phase ended on May 10, constitutes the tool for steering the energy policy of the overseas territory. It is co-developed by government departments and local authorities for a period of five years, with a 10-year vision.

It includes the energy and production needs for 2028 and 2033, corollaries of the economic and infrastructure development of French Guiana, a territory which has experienced one of the strongest demographic growth rates in recent years according to INSEE.

The PPE plans to increase the share of solar power by 61 megawatts (MW) by 2033, which already provided 7% of electricity consumption in 2024. The guaranteed power of solid biomass will be increased by 10 MW, and waste recovery by between 6.9 MW and 12.9 MW. Wind power is expected to provide 20 MW, provided that the army, which protects the Kourou space center with its radars, lifts its veto. Finally, to avoid the current frequent "blackouts" on the network, the PPE is counting on the EDF Larivot power plant and its 120 MW.

This €700 million project is the largest investment currently underway in French Guiana. Under construction near Cayenne after a long legal challenge, the Larivot project is expected to eventually replace the old, highly polluting thermal power plant at Dégrad-des-Cannes.

Aware of its dependence on imports to keep it running, the French Guiana Territorial Authority plans to use the plant "minimal" until renewable energy projects are completed. "It's a way of securing the network, not production," Pierre Cazelles, head of the Authority's energy transition department, told AFP.

By 2033, the Larivot is expected to represent only between 15% and 35% of the energy mix by 2033. But these projections leave the Renewable Energy Union doubtful, as it believes that the plant still occupies too important a place to the detriment of the development of local renewable resources.

TotalEnergies also withdrew the 20 MW "Maya" solar farm project planned near Cayenne at the beginning of March due to "the lack of need for additional controllable power production resources" included in the future PPE around the capital of Guyana.