The French Ministry of Solidarity and Ecological Transition has awarded 948MW of ground-mounted solar PV capacity in its latest auction.
The sixth PPE2 (Programmation Pluriannuelle de l’Energie) tender for ground-mounted capacity ended up being slightly oversubscribed as the French government tendered for 925MW of PV capacity.
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In total, 120 projects across France were awarded bidding capacity with an average price of €79.28/MWh (US$83.3/MWh). The average price is over €2 lower than the previous ground-mounted tender, when the average tariff of the fifth round sat at €81.9/MWh. For the second tender in a row, average tariff price decreased.
The capacity awarded is nearly on par with the previous round, when 911.5MW of solar PV was awarded in the fifth round, as shown in the chart below.
French independent power producer (IPP) Neoen has been awarded the most capacity in this latest tender with 166.7MW of solar PV, according to France-based financing advisory company Finergreen. This represents 18% of the total capacity awarded. Neoen is followed by Urbasolar, a subsidiary of Swiss renewables developer Axpo, with 124.1MW, across 20 projects, and energy giant TotalEnergies’ renewables division with 68.7MW of solar PV capacity awarded.
Cumulatively, Neoen is the company with the most capacity awarded thus far between the six ground-mounted PV tenders, with 645MW. It is followed by French giant EDF and Urbasolar, with 487MW and 332MW, respectively.
Finergreen’s analysis of the latest French ground-mounted tender shows that every region of the country has been awarded capacity, with Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Centre-Val de Loire with the most. These two regions were awarded 333MW and 193.6MW of solar PV capacity, respectively. The southern region accounted for more than half (52%) of the total awarded capacity with 58 projects.
The French government’s tender programme, PPE2, started in 2021 and is expected to run until 2026, as it seeks to add nearly 29GW of renewable capacity. The solar PV ground-mounted tenders are run twice a year, while it also has a rooftop solar programme. After a high of 505MW awarded in the fifth rooftop tender, capacity awarded decreased in 2024 with less than 180MW in the seventh and latest rooftop round.
