The French Ministry for an Ecological and Solidary Transition has increased the volume of solar tenders in the country by 1 GW per year in order to accelerate the development of photovoltaic energy. These multi-year tenders cover solar volumes of 1.45 GW per year over a period of 3 years. Since their launch, these tenders have already allowed the allocation of 1 GW of solar projects on the ground and 300 MW of building installations. France will now tender up to 2.45 GW per year of solar projects.
The increase in volumes will take effect gradually starting from the next call for tenders, which will take place in March 2018 for building installations and in June 2018 for ground-based power plants. The development of solar energy was accompanied by a substantial decrease in the level of state support: it was on average €63.9/MWh in the last phase, down 9% compared to previous tender, 4 months ago. For larger ground projects, the price even falls to €54/MWh.
Besides, the Ministry kicked off a 200 MW tender for wind and solar PV to assess the competitiveness of both technologies. The auction has been labelled as experimental by the Ministry and will take place in 2018, featuring projects with capacities between 5 MW and 18 MW. Project support will take the form of additional remuneration and selection will be based solely on the criterion of economic competitiveness.
France aims at reaching 40% of renewable energies by 2040 and pushes for the development of solar energy, which is expected to reach 20.2 GW of installed capacity by 2023.