The French Ministry of Ecological Transition has published the list of winners of a technologically neutral tender for PV, hydroelectric and wind installations.It also included rooftop PV system installations, BIPV System, Greenhouses, Agrivoltaic System, barns, and PV Carport above 500 kW in size, as well as onshore wind farms of any size with unsubsidized solar battery storage, and new hydroelectric plants above 1 MW.
The procurement exercise was set up in accordance with the European Commission's desire to allow direct and non-discriminatory competition between different renewable energy sources. For this third session, 500.6 MW was allocated against a requested volume of 500 MW.
The tender accepted proposals for rooftop PV system installations, BIPV System, Greenhouses, Agrivoltaic System, barns, and PV Carport, ground-mounted PV projects above 500 kW, capped at 30 MW unless located on degraded land, with optional but unsubsidized solar battery storage.
The French authorities selected 38 winners, with solar dominating at 35 projects, totaling 463.7 MW of capacity. The notable projects included Q Energy's 30 MW Emorots agrivoltaic plant in Côte d'Or, Soleil Elements' 29 MW Chevenon floating PV park in Nièvre, and Urbasolar's 33.95 MW installation on a former military base in Meurthe-et-Moselle.
The average awarded price fell to €80.6 ($83.92)/MWh from €85.19/MWh in the prior tender round. The next 500 MW tender session is scheduled for 2025.
