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- AnalysisAnalysis
France added 1.49 GW of solar PV capacity in Q1 2026, slightly below 1.57 GW in Q1 2025, according to SDES
Small solar systems under 9 kW made up 74% of installations but only 7% of added capacity
Self-consumption accounted for 481 GWh, equal to 7% of gross solar generation in the reporting quarter
With the grid connection of 1.49 GW in Q1 2026, France’s cumulative installed solar PV capacity reached 33 GW at the end of March 2026, according to the country’s Données et Etudes Statistiques, or the Data and Statistical Studies Department (SDES).
Provisional results for the reporting period indicate that solar PV installations in Q1 were slightly below the 1.57 GW recorded in Q1 2025.
About 30% of the new capacity came from installations above 500 kW, which made up just 0.3% of all new connections. In contrast, systems smaller than 9 kW accounted for 74% of newly connected units, but only 7% of the total newly added capacity.
According to the SDES, 62% of installations – representing 19% of installed capacity – produced electricity that was fully or partly self-consumed during Q1. In the same period, 481 GWh of solar electricity was self-consumed by producers in metropolitan France, equal to 7% of total gross PV generation for the quarter.
Installations with full self-consumption generated 247 GWh, accounting for 51% of all self-consumed electricity. These systems, says the SDES, accounted for 14% of all installations that self-consumed part or all of their output, and 9% of total installations in metropolitan France.
Solar PV installed capacity in Q1 this year generated 6.6 TWh of gross electricity, a considerable rise from 5.9 TWh in the same period in 2025. Excluding self-consumption, it amounted to 6.2 TWh.
At the end of March 2026, project capacity awaiting grid connection totaled 36.1 GW, representing 2% decline over the previous quarter, of which 8.4 GW have signed agreements.
Of the 33 GW cumulative capacity, 32.1 GW was located in mainland France. The Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions account for 50% of solar energy connected in France as of March 31, 2026.
The country targets 48 GW of cumulative solar PV capacity by 2030 and 55 GW to 80 GW by 2035 under the final Programmation pluriannuelle de l’énergie (PPE3), which is lower than earlier proposals (see France Lowers Renewable Targets In 2026–2035 Energy Plan).
This requires installing 3.6 GW annually by 2030, even though the market installed much more in 2024 (>5 GW) and 2025 (>6.38 GW), according to SDES data.
Under the PPE3 framework, France plans to launch renewable energy auctions, including solar PV, from July 2026 (see France To Launch Solar Energy Auctions In July 2026).
