France boosts energy-saving certificates for solar water heaters

The French government has created new bonuses for energy-saving certificates (CEE) covering solar water heaters and thermal solar devices, in a measure published in the Journal officiel de la République française n°0196 of 23 August 2026. The arrêté of 17 August 2026 (NOR ECOR2620461A), issued by the Ministère de l’économie, des finances et de la souveraineté industrielle, énergétique et numérique, multiplies the volume of certificates delivered for four standardised operation sheets, and takes effect on 1 September 2026.

The measure is part of the CEE scheme, which obliges energy suppliers to fund energy-saving operations in exchange for tradable certificates. It targets the residential sector and is designed to steer households away from fossil-fuel heating and hot-water systems, in line with France’s energy renovation policy.

New solar bonuses

The arrêté introduces multiplying coefficients for operations engaged before 1 January 2027, in metropolitan France only:

• BAR-TH-101 “Chauffe-eau solaire individuel”: coefficient 5 for modest households, 4 for other households.
• BAR-TH-148 “Chauffe-eau thermodynamique à accumulation”: coefficient 7 for modest households, 4 for other households.
• BAR-TH-162 “Système énergétique comportant des capteurs solaires photovoltaïques et thermiques”: coefficient 5 for modest households, 4 for other households.
• BAR-TH-168 “Dispositif solaire thermique”: coefficient 5 for modest households, 4 for other households, whether the device produces heating and hot water or hot water only.

The bonus for the BAR-TH-143 “Système solaire combiné” sheet is also strengthened, with a coefficient 5 for modest households and 4 for other households.

Conditions and scope

The bonuses apply only where installing the solar system does not lead to installing or keeping a heating or hot-water system that includes at least one piece of equipment capable of using fossil fuels. “Modest households” are those defined in II ter of article 3-1 of the arrêté of 29 December 2014 laying down the rules for applying the CEE scheme.

The arrêté also adds the four solar sheets to the control obligations set out in the arrêté of 28 September 2021, with on-site checks from 1 September 2026 and an additional 30% of checks by contact. The new provisions apply to operations engaged from 1 September 2026 that have not already been the subject of an aid application under the energy transition bonus (prime de transition énergétique) before that date.

Reinforced Coup de pouce renovation

A companion arrêté of 17 August 2026 (NOR ECOR2620460A), published in the same issue, reinforces the “Coup de pouce Rénovation d’ampleur” bonus. It updates the BAR-TH-174 and BAR-TH-175 sheets and simplifies the justification rules for social and intermediate housing, granting a coefficient 2 for modest households on deep renovation of individual houses. Only the engagement charter in annex IV-9 may now be signed.

The two texts together give a direct financial incentive to renovate homes with solar thermal and thermodynamic equipment, while tightening the conditions that exclude fossil-fuel back-up systems. For households, the higher coefficients translate into more certificates and therefore larger rebates on their energy bills, making solar hot-water installations more attractive ahead of the 1 January 2027 cut-off.

Source: Journal officiel de la République française, n°0196 of 23 August 2026, p. (official reference: JORFTEXT000054734629, NOR ECOR2620461A).