The French government has awarded 512.8 MW of solar and onshore wind projects in the second technology-neutral tender under the national PPE2 subsidy programme, registering increased prices from the previous round.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) was the predominant technology of the 34 winning proposals in the competition, the Ministry of Ecological Transition announced this week. The overall basket included 30 ground-mounted solar projects and four wind farm schemes.
The average price of the winning bids came at EUR 85.19 (USD 93.30) per MWh, up from EUR 76.89/MWh in the first tender edition last year.
The largest project that secured subsidies in the tender envisages the installation of a 108-MW solar farm in the Centre-Val de Loire region of northern France. The list of winners also contains four proposals for solar PV parks of 30 MW each, which are also among the largest ones in terms of awarded capacity.
In a separate statement, German energy group RWE AG announced it has been successful with 15 MW of projects in the tender – a 11-MW onshore wind and a 4-MWp solar park scheme. The three-turbine wind farm will be installed in the Loire-Atlantique department, while the PV plant will be built in the Charente-Maritime department.
(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.095)