According to the French power transmission system operator RTE, the total renewable power capacity (hydropower, wind, solar PV and bioenergies) connected to its grid rose by more than 2,350 MW in 2019, reaching more than 53,600 MW at the end of 2019. Wind capacities increased by 1,361 MW to around 16.5 GW, compared to a target of 21.8 to 26 GW by 2023, as agreed in the Multiannual Energy Programming (PPE). Solar capacities rose by 890 MW to more than 9.4 GW; the 2023 target ranges between 18 and 21 GW. Hydropower capacities only increased by 21 MW to more than 25.5 GW, while thermal power capacities from bioenergies increased by 75 MW to 2.1 GW.
In 2019, wind power generation rose by 21% to 34 TWh and covered 7.3% of electricity consumption, while solar power generation increased by 7.8% to more than 11 TWh, covering 2.5% of the electricity consumption. Hydropower generation fell by 12% in 2019 but still covered nearly 12% of the total electricity consumption, while bioenergies covered 1.6% of the consumption (power generation increasing by 3.4% to 7.7 TWh). Overall, renewable energies contributed to 23% of the electricity consumption in mainland France in 2019, slightly increasing from 22.9% in 2018.
Interested in Power Plants?
Enerdata has developed a market research service to screen, monitor and analyse the development of power generation assets.
Power Plant Tracker offers an interactive database and a powerful search engine covering power plants worldwide – including both installed and planned capacities for renewables and fossil fuels.