France’s Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition has announced the winners of its first round of auction for commercial and industrial (C&I) rooftop solar and ground-mounted solar projects for the 2021-26 period under the country’s PPE2 (Programmation Pluriannuelle de l’Energie) or the multi-year energy procurement program.

The list had 52 winners for the C&I rooftop solar projects and 71 ground-mounted solar projects from across the country.

The multi-year Energy Program (PPE) sets France on the path towards total decarbonization by 2050 using low-carbon energy sources.

For the C&I rooftop solar projects, the weighted average price of the winning proposals was €83.12 (~$90.38)/MWh. The tender was for installing rooftop solar on buildings, greenhouses, agricultural sheds, and car parks. The capacity of the installations was of over 500 kW.

Technique Solaire secured the largest share with 12 rooftop solar projects. The company’s biggest project is of 7.99 MW in the Lot-et-Garonne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Urbasolar won seven projects, and the largest one is a 12.84 MW project in the Oise department in the Hauts-de-France region.

The first round of tenders for ground-mounted solar projects for the 2021-26 period under the PPE2 program also included some major players

The weighted average price of the winning proposals for the ground-mounted solar projects was €58.84 (~$65.23)/MWh.

Urbasolar secured the largest share with seven projects. The company’s biggest project is a 16.48 MW project in the Lot-et-Garonne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.

The largest single ground-mounted solar project is a 40.66 MW project by Centrale Photovoltaïque de l’aéroparc in Territoire de Belfort department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.

France’s total installed solar photovoltaic capacity reached the 13.07 GW mark at the end of December 2021. According to the released data, a total of 761 MW of solar capacity was added in the last quarter of 2021, which marked a new record of quarterly installations. Energy from renewable sources accounted for 25% of the total energy consumption in the country in 2021.

In December 2021, Ecological Ministry had announced the results of its 13th tender round for 324 MW of commercial and industrial rooftop solar capacity. The capacity of these systems ranged between 100 kW and 8 MW.

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.