France awards 1.5GW in largest ever ground-mount solar tender

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Neoen’s 300MWp Cestas solar project in France. Image: Neoen.

France has awarded 1.5GW of ground-mounted solar PV capacity in its latest auction, concluded this week (26th September). This was the largest amount awarded in any single tender since the Programmation Pluriannuelle de l’Energie (PPE) scheme began.

The 129 successful projects were awarded at an average price of €82.42/MWh (US$97.43/MWh), after the tender was slightly oversubscribed with 1.519GW of proposals for 1.5GW available capacity. It was open to projects from between 500kWp and 30MWp capacity, though certain location requirements (such as deployment on wasteland or old quarries) allowed for the removal of capacity restrictions.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

For comparison, the previous tender round saw just 115MW solar capacity awarded to 7 projects at an average price of €82.23/MWh.

According to renewables consulting firm Finergreen, around two-thirds of the projects were awarded in Northern France at almost double the average size of the projects awarded in the South (18.0MW compared with 10.4MW in the South.) This, Finergreen said, was “most likely due to land pressure over the last ground-mounted tenders in France.”

The Hauts-de-France and Centre-Val de Loire regions saw the most new capacity awarded, with 230.9MW and 225MW respectively. Bretagne and Provence-AlpesCôte d’Azur saw the least, whilst Normandie received its first PPE-tendered ground-mount PV projects – two 4MW facilities and one 29.5MW.

Of the companies awarded capacity, Photosol topped the list (257.1MW) followed by Neoen (226.1MW) and EDF (143.7MW).  In total 38 developers received capacity.

French development director of Neoen, Guillaume Decaen, said: “Once again, we have been ranked among the top winners, repeatedly showing our ability to bring projects to fruition and strengthening our partners in the choice they made to get involved with us to see the projects successfully completed. This latest achievement takes us past the 2GW milestone for assets in operation, under construction or projects awarded in France.”

Neoen’s 226.1MW awarded capacity was split over 15 projects, ranging in size from 3.3MWp to 42.2MWp. A quarter of the capacity will be fulfilled by agrivoltaics projects, the company said in a press release; the 30MW Ferme de Bord and Fère-Champenoise projects will both combine sheep grazing with their solar PV generation.

The next PPE tender application deadline is due on 20 November, with a forecast available capacity of 925MWp.

Read Next

July 2, 2025
Indigenous-led renewable energy company Yindjibarndi Energy Corporation (YEC) has submitted plans for a hybrid wind and solar PV renewable energy project to the Australian government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
July 2, 2025
Robotics company Luminous has received AU$4.9 million (US$3.2 million) via Australia’s Solar ScaleUp Challenge to support deploying its ‘LUMI’ technology at utility-scale solar PV power plants.
July 1, 2025
French private equity firm Ardian Clean Energy Evergreen Fund (ACEEF) has bought 117 solar PV plants, worth 116MW of total capacity in several locations in Italy.
July 1, 2025
A five-year research initiative is underway in Australia to test the viability of floating solar systems on irrigation dams.
June 30, 2025
Australian module manufacturer Tindo Solar has secured a 30MW solar module supply agreement to power Australia's first "net zero pipeline”.
June 27, 2025
Renewables investment platform Nexwell Power has signed a round of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with “one of the largest” US tech companies for solar PV capacity to be built in Spain.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 22, 2025
Bilbao, Spain
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK