After the positive evaluation published by the Court of Auditors on the Heat Fund managed by ADEME, it publishes the results: 11,200 renewable energy and recovery (EnR&R) installations helped since 2017
Publi-Information 
In 2025, the Court of Auditors published an evaluation of the investments financed with the help of the heat fund over the period 2028 – 2023. The Court concluded: “the combined schemes of the Chaleur Fund, France Relance and France 2030 represent an amount of €742 million in 2023. This aid has made it possible to support a growing number of projects and lead to the production of 23.4 TWh of renewable heat between 2017 and 2023, bringing the total to 35.3 TWh since 2009. These schemes have thus contributed to more than 70% of the production objectives of heat of France“.”The efficiency of the Chaleur Fund“, continued the Court of Auditors, “is higher than that of many other public aids in the field of energy“. The evaluation made it possible to identify the main factors impacting the deployment of renewable heat in the territoriesnamely:
– the availability of energy resources;
– The collaboration of ADEME regional directorates with the regional councils;
– And the often low visibility of thermal renewable energies.
There Court of Auditors recommended “the strengthening of territorial planning, as well as the improvement of the articulation of the Heat Fund with other public support mechanisms“.
Thermal solar received €10.2 million in aid from the heat fund in 2025. © PP
Cumulative production commitments since 2009 for Heat Fund projects. © ADEME
The Heat Fund budget strengthened for 2026
On April 22, ADEME published the report on the heat fund for the year 2025. In its press release, ADEME begins by recalling that the heat needswhich today represent 43% of energy consumption in France, are still mainly covered by fossil, carbon and imported energies (gas, fuel oil, coal). There war in Iran and the energy crisis that she produced recall theurgency to accelerate the energy transition of our country, to quickly strengthen our sovereignty and reduce our imports by replacing them with locally produced energy.
In February 2026, the government published the 3rd Multiannual Energy Program (PPE3) aimed at drastically reduce the share of imported fossil fuels in consumption of the country (60% in 2023) to reach 60% low-carbon energy in 2030. The PPE3 thus sets an ambitious objective of 328 to 421 TWh of renewable and recovery heat by 2035 (compared to 172 TWh in 2022). It also aims to reach 68 to 90 TWh of heat distributed via heat networks by this horizon, including 80% renewable and recovered heat – compared to 26 TWh including 64% renewable and recovered heat in 2022.
Operated by ADEME since 2009, the Fonds Chaleur fully contributes to the growth of renewable heat production and sovereign recoveryin addition to significant efforts in energy efficiency and sobriety. THE Heat Fund aid allocated in 2025 to supply collective housing, businesses and communities will enable the construction of 643 km of heat distribution networks and more than 1,200 new installations producing 3.5 TWh per year of renewable and recovery heat.
France has numerous local, renewable and recovery resources, industrial know-how and public support. THE deployment of projects supported by the Chaleur Fund contributes, in a particularly efficient manner for public finances, to the decarbonization of the economy and the country’s energy sovereignty; It is with this objective that the State has increased the budget of the Heat Fund to €800 million in 2026.
The share of heat pumps in the financing of the Heat Fund is very small and concentrated on high-power heat pumps. © ADEME / PP
More than 11,000 supported installations
11,200 renewable energy and recovery (EnR&R) installations
For 17 years, the Heat Fund helped around 11,200 renewable energy and recovery (EnR&R) installationsincluding 5,200 km of distribution networks thanks to 5.9 billion euros in aid, having generated nearly 18 billion euros in investments. This represents nearly 52.5 TWh/year of additional RE&R production, equivalent to the heat consumption of around 5 million homes, and around €2.6 billion/year in savings on the trade balance, compared to the gas that would have had to be imported to produce this heat in the absence of these projects.
Furthermore, the France Relance, France 2030 and Ecological Planning Fund programs made it possible to support the production of heat from biomass for the industrial target to the tune of 8.7 TWh/year, in particular via:
– BCIAT calls for projects (Biomass heat for industry, agriculture and the tertiary sector: supporting heat production projects of more than 12GWh/year via a boiler or a hot air generator and from biomass) (the call for projects is closed);
– And BCIB (Biomass Heat for the Wood Industry: supports wood industries in the development of efficient drying solutions, promoting energy autonomy and the reduction of fossil fuels). The priority projects concern the drying of wood material and the optimization of biomass installations; the call for projects will close on April 30, 2026 at midnight).
A substantial budget
The total balance of all of these devices leads to additional thermal production of 61.2 TWh/year. In 2025, the Heat Fund budget amounted to €801 million. The entire budget has been committed. With an average efficiency of €51.5 of aid per tonne of CO2 saved, it is one of the most effective tools for decarbonizing the economy and reducing gas imports.
This program supported nearly 1,200 installations in 2025, covering a heat requirement equivalent to the heating consumption of around 200,000 homes. This significant number of installations reflects the rise in power of Renewable Heat Contracts accompanying many smaller projects, with strong growth in geothermal projects in 2025. The Renewable Heat Contract, intended for companies, associations and local authorities, is in the form of a single contract allowing the financing of a group of projects which, taken individually, may not be eligible for the Heat Fund. This contract allows you to submit a single application for a set of projects, all thermal ENR&R sectors combined and at different phases: from the study of the potential to the monitoring of the installation. It takes two forms: the Heritage Renewable Heat Contract, lasting a maximum of six years, offering financial aid for studies and investments to develop thermal EnR&R projects on a property, and the Territorial Renewable Heat Contract, lasting four years, making it possible to develop thermal EnR&R projects on a territory via investment and study aid. It also allows you to benefit from assistance for territorial animation intended to bring out projects and support project leaders.
Each euro invested in deep and surface geothermal energy by the Chaleur Fund generates €3.3 of total investment. On the surface, a high-power deep geothermal installation is particularly discreet. © PP
Strong development of geothermal energy
This year again, the Heat Fund mainly subsidized investments – €727 million in investment aid, generating more than €2.4 billion in expenditure on renewable energy installations, i.e. a leverage effect of 3.3 – and financed to a lesser extent other support systems – studies, management of territorial renewable heat contracts, geothermal guarantee funds, subsidized loans for social housing offered by the Banque des Territoires, etc. –, necessary to bring out quality projects in the territories.
Concerning investment aid, heat distribution networksan essential link in the development of renewable and recovery heatrepresent one of the first items in the budget with €298 million in aid, having made it possible to finance 643 km of networks. Biomass boiler rooms represented €155 million in aid, the surface and deep geothermal energy €85 million, and waste heat recovery equipment €21 million. For solar thermal and biogas recovery equipment by injection into the network, €10.6 million and €8.1 million respectively have been committed.
Biomass boiler rooms received €155 million in aid from the Heat Fund in 2025. © PP
At a time when ADEME’s budget and its very existence are being called into question by political movements, the success of the Heat Fund that it has managed since its creation and the new energy crisis that we are going through militate in favor of strengthening ADEME and its action.
