France Allocates Just 180 MWp in Latest Rooftop Solar Tender

France’s latest tender round for rooftop photovoltaic (PV) arrays and solar shadehouses ended up significantly undersubscribed, with only 180 MWp of capacity awarded.

The competition was the seventh call under the national PPE2 tender programme and targeted 400 MWp. The French Ministry of Solidarity and Ecological Transition said on Thursday it has selected 50 winning projects, whereas 90 projects totalling 362.2 MWp were successful in the previous edition.

The average price offered by the winners in the seventh call amounted to EUR 101.69 (USD 110.82) per MWh, down from EUR 102.10/MWh in the sixth tender.

Montpellier, France-based Urbasolar has emerged as the largest winner in terms of capacity, securing 47.4 MWp of awards, followed by Greenyellow with 26.9 MWp and Reden Solar with 18.9 MWp. Meanwhile, Neoen grabbed the largest project, of 17.6 MWp in size, in the slot for rooftop schemes larger than 5 MWp, according to data analysed by consultancy Finergreen.

The full list of successful projects is available on the government’s website.

Under its PPE2 scheme, France will call tenders for almost 29 GW of solar PV capacity across different categories. The programme was initiated in 2021 and will be completed in 2026. The next round for rooftop installations is due to open on July 26, 2024, and will seek to award 300 MWp.