According to the French renewable energy association Syndicat de l’énergie renouvelable (SER), solar PV projects in France are increasingly competitive, with large ground-mounted solar PV installations offering to sell their power generation at €87/MWh, a level equivalent to that of onshore wind power (€85/MWh).
Even if this price remains higher than nuclear (ARENH tariff set at €42/MWh) and than average wholesale prices (€38/MWh), subsidies to solar PV are plummeting, from €188/MWh in 2012. Several projects are offering prices as low as €70/MWh, which is lower than prices for new power plants: EDF reached a guaranteed price of €109/MWh for the Hinkley Point C nuclear project in the United Kingdom.
This strong decrease in solar PV prices is related to the fall in solar panel prices (-80% since 2008), due to the higher production from China; however, anti-dumping measures introduced in the European Union in 2013 limited the fall in equipment prices.
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