The Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition of France has announced the results of its 13th tender round for 324 MW of commercial and industrial rooftop solar capacity. The capacity of these systems ranges between 100 kW and 8 MW.

The Ministry allocated 211 MW of rooftop solar capacity for projects ranging between 100 kW and 500 kW under Category A. The tender discovered an average tariff of €87.25 (~$98.86)/MWh for Category A projects.

For capacities ranging between 500 kW and 8 MW, around 113 MW of rooftop projects were awarded under Category B. The tender discovered an average tariff of €76.66 (~$86.86)/MWh for Category B.

According to the release by France’s Data and Statistical Studies Department, France installed 2,034 MW of solar capacity in the first nine months (9M) of 2021, a 167% year-over-year (YoY) increase compared to 761 MW installed in the same period last year.

The department said installations commissioned in 9M 2021 is mainly concentrated in the southern half of mainland France. The cumulative solar installations in France stood at 13.2 GW at the end of September 2021.

Of the 13.2 GW of solar capacity, 12.58 GW of solar capacity is sited in mainland France. Nouvelle-Aquitaine has the largest capacity of 3.16 GW. Occitanie and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes follow with installed solar capacity of 2.58 GW and 1.44 GW, respectively.

In 9M 2021, France’s solar generation amounted to 12.5 TWh, a 9% YoY increase. It represented 3.7% of the overall electricity consumption in France.

In August 2021, the European Commission approved a €5.7 billion (~$6.7 billion) aid program to support renewable energy generation from small solar installations located on buildings in France. The measure is expected to help the country achieve its 2030 target of producing 33% of its energy needs from renewable sources and contribute to the European objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

Last year, France selected 100 solar and wind energy projects with a cumulative capacity of 600 MW in an auction. The government selected 45 ground-mounted solar projects with a cumulative installed capacity of 332 MW. The chosen projects’ average tariff is €57.4 (~$ 68.10)/MWh, a 7.4% decrease compared to the previous auction. It also selected 31 self-consumption solar projects with a total capacity of 9 MW. The average tariff for these projects stood at €13.8 (~$ 16.36)/MWh, a decrease of 14% compared to the previous auction.

Harsh Shukla is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.

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