Solar reaches average price of €0.0574/kWh in France’s renewables tender

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From pv magazine France.

Despite the Covid-19 crisis, the number of wind and PV projects applying in the procurement program has greatly exceeded the volumes offered. The final prices achieved by the winning projects are down sharply compared to previous sessions, confirming the drop in costs, the dynamism and competitiveness of the sectors, the French Ministry of Ecological Transition (MTE) stated in a press release.

Solar secured around 340 of the 600 MW allocated in the tender. The MET selected 45 utility-scale PV projects totaling 331 MW with an average price of  €0.0574/kWh, down 7.4% compared to the previous tender. It also selected 31 photovoltaic projects for self-consumption with an aggregate capacity of 9 MW. These projects secured a feed-in premium of €0.0138/MWh, down 14% compared to the previous round.

On the wind power side, 23 projects were awarded 258 MW of capacity, with the average price of €0.0597/kWh, down 4% compared to the previous tender.

“Once commissioned, these projects will produce nearly 1 TWh of carbon-free electricity per year, equivalent to the consumption of around 190,000 households,” said the MTE.

The tenders for the first half of 2020 had been split into two periods to allow certain projects to apply as soon as the state of health emergency ended while leaving more preparation time for those that were less advanced. This first period concerns ground-mounted solar, shade shelters and self-consumption as well as wind power.

A new tender will be held in November for ground-based photovoltaic and wind power projects to complete the current round.

These projects will receive public support in the form of a guaranteed feed-in tariff for the electricity produced.

“These results show that renewable energies are becoming more and more competitive,” ecological transition minister Barbara Pompili said in the MTE press release. “The allocation of public support to the winning projects is a further demonstration of our desire to develop renewable energy sources, which allow us to fight against climate change and to make our electricity mix more robust by diversifying it while creating energy employment in France.”

In France’s first mixed energy tender held in November 2018, solar secured all the capacity awarded in the round, receiving a total of 202.5 MW of capacity at an average price of €54.94/MWh.

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