Cumulative French PV Capacity Now 14 GW

• France installed 2.8 GW of additional solar capacity in the year 2021, according to the SDES
• To this number, Q4/2021 installations added 671 MW, up from 603 MW installed in the previous quarter
• National total for solar PV capacity at the end of December 2021 was 13.99 GW, of which 13.33 GW is located in mainland France

France's Données et Etudes Statistiques or Data and Statistical Studies Department (SDES) says the country added 2,792 MW or 2.8 GW of new solar PV capacity in the year 2021, taking its cumulative capacity to 14 GW (13.99 GW to be specific) out of which 13.33 GW is located within mainland France.

These numbers are slightly higher than provisional data offered by French renewable energy association SER recently according to which 2021 annual installations were 2.68 GW (see France Installed Over 2.6 GW New Solar In 2021).

According to the SDES data, the annual additions for 2021 came in the form of 736 MW, 782 MW, 603 MW and 671 MW in the 4 quarters of last year, respectively, scoring a lead over 2020 when the total added up to 1.19 GW. It explains of the capacity installed in 2021, 66% corresponds to installations with over 250 kW capacity, however these formed less than 1% of new connections.

At least 83% came from systems of less than 9 kW capacity, accounting for 7% of new power. SDES counts 11.5 GW of capacity in queue for grid connection, a number that's gone up by 29% on annual basis, of which 2.8 GW has secured signed connection agreements.

Electricity generated by solar PV capacity last year went up 11% YoY to 14.8 TWh, representing 3.1% of the national electricity consumption over the period.

Going forward, France will be aiming for 100 GW solar capacity by 2050 as announced by the French President Emmanuel Macron recently (see France Announces 100 GW Solar Target).