France secures 339MW in undersubscribed solar auction

• Average strike costs rise as developers look further north in the middle of land constraints

The French federal government has actually awarded 339MW of new ground-mounted PV capacity in its newest solar auction, less than half of the 700MW capacity on offer.

A total of 38 projects were awarded an average tariff of EUR68.51 per megawatt-hour, a rise of nearly EUR10 on the average EUR 58.84/ MWh price awarded by the French federal government to 71 projects in its December 2021 auction.

Q Energy France, formerly RES' French division, topped the auction by volume with a solitary 66MW project.

It was followed by Générale du Solare, which bid in a portfolio of 4 projects totalling 36MW.

Other champions included EDF (29.2 MW), TotalEnergies (28.3 MW), Sergies (25MW), Photosol (24.7 MW) and BayWa r.e. (23.5 MW).

Approximately 36% of the capacity awarded will be created in France's Grand-Est region.

Financial consultatory boutique Finergreen, which made up a research of the outcomes, kept in mind a boost in designers bidding more north because of land stress with greater tariffs bid to compensate for reduced irradiation levels.

The auction is the 2nd in France's programme of PPE2 tenders, with EDF leading the pack to date with a complete 142MW of PV awarded, carefully followed by Neoen (108MW) as well as Q Energy France (104MW).

Auctions will certainly be held two times a year up until 2026 with the capacity on offer rising from 700MW to 925MW from the third tender onwards.

The due date for the third tender is set for 30 November 2022.