The Commission de Régulation de l'Energie (CRE) in France or the French Regulatory Commission has published amendments to several tenders launched under CRE4 and PPE2 that will fast-track more than 3.4 GW wind and 2.7 GW solar PV capacity to come online, calling it an 'exceptional measure linked to the energy crisis'.
Specifically, these amendments have been introduced for 17 tenders for solar PV, wind energy, hydroelectric and self-consumption segments in mainland France and in non-interconnected areas. Amendments introduced will enable producers to absorb part of the increase in costs and rates by selling their production on the market now before state support starts coming in.
It is also allowing extended deadlines for projects to be completed and for winners to modify the power up to 140% of the initial power selected in the call for tenders.
Renewable energy producers impacted by these changes need to write to the Energy Minister for these modifications to apply to their projects from September 1, 2022.
"This measure will enable the rapid commissioning of the 6 GW of renewable generation projects that won these calls for tenders, which are currently in difficulty," stated CRE. "The CRE welcomes this system, which makes it possible to strengthen and accelerate the deployment of renewable energies in the context of an electricity supply crisis."
A list of all the tenders that get impacted by this measure is available on CRE's website.
Recently, CRE released increased feed-in-tariffs (FIT) and premiums for solar energy installations, taking into account increase in costs experienced by PV sector following challenges related to COVID-19, high costs for raw materials and logistics, along with challenges brought on by the Russian invasion of Ukraine (see New Solar Feed-In-Tariff Rates In France).