French retroactive solar tariff cuts and the remedies available to developers By Eran Chvika, finance and projects partner, Pinsent Masons LLP February 2, 2021 News Email France's 2021 Finance Act will impose tariff cuts on 800 such contracts based on tariff decrees published between 2006 and 2010, which the government now considers to be excessive due to the collapse in the price of PV cells. Officials are concerned that developers would otherwise benefit from excessive profitability, with some investments generating margins of more than 20%. The French government expects the measure to save it €350-400 million annually. France introduced a feed-in tariff (FiT) regime in 2000, designed to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy investments by offering long-term contracts to renewable energy developers. The goal at the time was to offer cost-based compensation to these developers, providing price certainty and helping developers to obtain financing. However, in 2018, the Court of Auditors said that incentives available to the solar industry were too generous as the cost of installing solar panels had since fallen to a quarter of what it had been, prompting the government's decision to partially scale back its support for solar power.