France Auctions 960 MW Solar Power Capacity

The Ministry of the Ecological and Inclusive Transition has contracted over 1.7 GW of solar and wind power capacity in the form of 288 projects under various tenders, announced Minister Elisabeth Borne on an audio call with renewable energy players.

Of these winning projects, 35 belong to onshore wind representing 749.3 MW capacity. The majority with 960 MW will come from solar PV technology comprising:

• 649 MW capacity through 88 ground mounted projects for an average price of €62.11 per MWh.
• 104 MW of innovative tender capacity through 39 projects for an average price of €82.8 per MWh. Of these 40 MW will be agrivoltaic projects.
• 2 MW as 12 projects in Haut-Rhin region at the location of Fessenheim nuclear power plant, now decommissioned. Ground mounted projects were selected for an average price of €55.78 per MWh, rooftop projects over 500 kW for €92 per MWh and rooftop projects for less than 500 kW capacity at €98.5 per MWh.
• 8 MW of 30 self-consumption solar projects that will fetch their developers an average premium of €15.97 per MWh.
• 7 MW from 84 projects in the overseas territories of Corsica. Within this category, 37 projects with 54.8 MW plus storage were selected for an average price of €108.2 per MWh, 44,1 MW without storage for an average price of €96.2 per MWh, and 2.8 MW of self-consumption projects with an average premium of €44.1 per MWh.

Altogether the ministry expects solar and wind power projects contracted will generate approximately 2.6 TWh of renewable electricity annually. Projects will enter commercial operations gradually.

In September 2019, France awarded 62.8 MW solar PV capacity to 12 projects with average winning price of €66.05 per MWh.

Support to COVID-19 impacted projects

On the call, Borne also announced a number of measures the ministry will take to support renewable energy projects facing the heat due to COVID-19. These measures include extending commissioning deadlines for projects, extending electricity purchase prices for small scale rooftop PV systems by 3 months that actually were to close on April 1, 2020, and finally it will look into postponing a number of tenders whose schedule is available on the ministry’s website.

“The progress of many renewable energy production projects is currently disrupted, which is why I decided to grant additional delays for the sites under construction and for the next calls for tenders. I asked my services to support the project leaders to facilitate their outcome,” said Borne. “The health crisis that we are going through must not in any way make us give up the ambitious objectives in terms of development of renewable energies in the multi-annual energy programming. The nearly 300 winning projects designated today are tangible proof of this mobilization and allow continued investment in the service of the climate and our future energy system.”