According to the latest data, France’s installed solar capacity was 1,378MW in the first half of 2023, compared with 1,233MW in the same period last year.

From January to June, French solar power generation reached 11.2TWh, a year-on-year increase of 18%. Solar power accounted for 4.7% of France’s electricity consumption, a year-on-year increase of 0.9%.

As of June 30, 2023, France’s installed solar capacity was 18GW, of which 17.3GW was in mainland France.

In the first half of 2023, the French regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Occitanie, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Pays de la Loire played an important role in expanding solar power generation. Together, these regions account for 67% of the country’s new grid-connected capacity.

Although accounting for only 0.2% of the total number of new grid-connected equipment, about 39% of power generation from January to June came from new installations above 250kW. Lower power equipment, especially equipment below 9kW, accounted for 94% of new grid-connected equipment and 24% of new power generation.

It is worth noting that the capacity of projects under construction has increased significantly, increasing by 19% since the beginning of the year to 20.1 GW. Among these projects, 4.49GW have signed grid connection agreements.

In France, 41.6% of PV installations came from captive power generation projects (78.5% of installed capacity), an increase of 1.2% compared to the previous quarter. The installed capacity of self-use projects was 297 GWh, accounting for 3.9% of the total photovoltaic power generation in this quarter.

In August, the French Ministry of Ecology and Solidarity Transformation announced the list of winning bidders for the fifth round of industrial and commercial rooftop solar project bidding. These projects have a power generation capacity of more than 500kW and a total power generation of 378MW. The average quotation of the 60 winning bidders was 0.1019 euros (approximately US$0.1102)/kWh.

According to data from the French Government’s Department of Statistics and Research (SDES), France’s photovoltaic installed capacity will reach 14GW in 2022, becoming the country with the third largest installed capacity in Europe.

The European Parliament and Council have tentatively agreed to increase the EU’s binding renewable energy target from 32% to at least 42.5% by 2030. This means that the EU’s existing share of renewable energy will double.