French energy regulator publishes tender for commercial PV projects for self-consumption

French energy regulator CRE has published the first tender for commercial renewable energy projects for self-consumption.

The tender will be open to rooftop PV installations and other renewable energy projects with a capacity of 100 kW to 500 kW. The owners of these systems can consume all or part of the generated power, or sell all or part of it to a third party located in the same building. The annual rate of self-consumption must be higher than 50%.

The tender will be held over a 3-year period and will have nine separate windows for submitting project proposals. The first window will close on Sep. 27, 2017, while the deadline for the last window will be May 20, 2020.

As for the PV projects, the tender admits only rooftop installations on buildings and carports and with  a carbon footprint assessment lower than 750 kgCO2/kW. Surplus power must be sold to French utility EDF, which will grant a tariff (complément de remuneration) ranging from €50 per MWh in first tender window to €40 per MWh in the last window. If the owner of a system will not consume more than 50% of the power it produces, the tariff will be lowered. Collective solar projects will be awarded an additional tariff of €3 per MWh.

In every round the French government intends to allocate 50 MW of renewable energy generation capacity. Overall, 450 MW of renewable energy generation capacity is expected to come online over the next three years through the tender. Solar will very likely have the largest share.