France Targets 20 GW of Solar Power

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The French government has announced tenders to triple its solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity to more than 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2023.

The country, which generates around three quarters of its power from 58 nuclear reactors, has been actively pushing to reduce its reliance on nuclear while pushing new offshore wind and solar power tenders. The country has a stated goal of reducing its reliance on nuclear power from 75% to 50% by 2025.

Launched by French Environment and Energy Minister Segolene Royal, the new tenders call for solar PV capacity to hit 10.2 GW by 2018, and between 18.2 GW and 20.2 GW by 2023. According to the country's transmission agency, RTE, France currently has around 6.2 GW of solar PV. To put it in context with other renewables, onshore wind supplies just over 10 GW and hydropower more than 25 GW. Combined, renewables accounted 18.7% of France's total power demand in 2015.

France's last solar tender was in 2014 and last year saw just under 1 GW of new capacity added last year. Installed solar capacity in France has increased by 40% since the 2014 tenders, and according to Minister Royal, the new tenders "will generate more than a billion euros of investment and create more than 5,000 jobs in the sector."

Enerplan, the French union of professional solar energy developers, welcomed the announcement: "These measures will help to ramp up the solar sector to contribute significantly to the energy transition of the country, with a development path that will lead to more than 20 GW of installed PV by 2023."

France has also been actively backing its budding offshore sector over the past four years.

Since 2012, there have been two offshore wind tenders in France, calling for the construction of six windfarms with a combined generating capacity of 3 GW by 2020. In April, the French government announced plans to release a third offshore tender process for the Dunkirk region off the northern coast of the country. In May, local authorities gave the green light for construction to start on the 480-megawatt (MW) Saint-Nazaire project off the west coast of France, four years after the French government first awarded the tender to a consortium made up of EDF Energies Nouvelles (Paris, France), DONG Energy A/S (Fredericia, Denmark), Nass & Wind Offshore (Lorient, France), wpd Offshore (Bremen, Germany) and Alstom SA (EPA:ALO) (Paris, France). For additional information, see May 4, 2016, article -- France Green Lights Saint-Nazaire Offshore Windfarm.

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