France has awarded 507.7MW of solar PV capacity in its latest technology neutral auction for solar PV, wind and hydropower projects, with only solar projects selected.
The fourth auction – known as AO PPE2 Neutre – awarded 36 ground-mounted PV projects, and for the first time, had no wind or hydropower projects awarded. Launched in 2021, the PPE2 tender builds on a previous tender programme and aims to award 29GW of power capacity before 2026. The AO PPE2 Neutre is held once per year, whereas other specific solar PV tenders are held twice per year.
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The average price for this latest auction was €74.13/MWh (US$87.1/MWh), a decrease of more than €6 from the previous tender, and also the lowest price since its first round in 2022, which had registered an average price of €76.89/MWh.
This is also below the average price registered in France’s two ground-mounted solar PV tenders held in 2025, with averages around €79/MWh.
Nouvelle-Aquitaine was the region with the most capacity awarded with 171.45MW, followed by Centre-Val de Loire with 136.18MW, as shown in the chart below. Cumulatively, the two regions accounted for more than half of the solar PV awarded in the fourth tender.
Despite a price decrease compared with previous tenders, French prices still remain higher than those of neighbouring countries such as Germany and Italy. However, Italy’s latest Fer-X tender, which sought solar PV projects using “non-price criteria” for product procurement, and which awarded 1.1GW of solar PV capacity, saw a price increase compared with another FER-X tender that had no restrictions in terms of product procurement. This auction was aligned with the European Union’s Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) and sought to award projects that did not use Chinese-made products for some of the main components, such as cells, modules and inverters.
The average power price for this auction stood at €66.378/MWh, up by €10 compared with another FER-X auction held days before the NZIA-specific one. It remains to be seen whether the price difference will be sufficient to cover the cost of procuring non-Chinese cells, modules, and inverters.
