Regional development trajectories of renewable energy: Evidence from French regions

This article aims to study the regional development of renewable energies (RE) in France over the period 1990-2015. As a first step, Principal Component Analysis was used on the collected data, which led to a classification of RE's development into four sub-periods. The first two sub-periods (1990-1994) and (1995-2003) are characterized by a strong dependence on hydro, thermal, and fossil energies. The third sub-period (2004-2011) shows the development of new RE sources. In the last sub-period (2012-2015), RE's use in transport and heating sectors has grown significantly. In a second step, we carried out a Hierarchical Ascendant Classification (HAC) on each sub-period to highlight the similarities and differences between regions in terms of diversification of the energy mix. The results show that 16 regions followed a similar path over the 1990-2015 period because of an initial favorable condition for sharing RE consumptions. Other regions (Auvergne, Aquitaine, Burgundy, Franche-Comte ', Poitou Charentes, and Lorraine) experienced more contrasting trajectories in their RE development.