France installed 1.71 GW of solar in January-September period

From pv magazine France

France's Ministry of Ecological Transition has reported that around 1,715 MW of new PV systems were connected to the French grid in the January-September period, from 2,201 MW in the first nine months of 2021.

Installations above 250 kW in size accounted for about 52% of the new solar capacity. Installations below 9 kW in size represented 89% of the newly connected units and 13% of all new capacity.

France reached a cumulative installed PV capacity of 15.8 GW at the end of September, with 15.5 GW of the total on the French mainland. The aggregate capacity of queued solar projects with grid-connection requests, meanwhile, has increased by 40% since the start of the year to 16.1 GW, including 3.4 GW with signed connection agreements.

In the first three quarters of the year, solar production stood at 16.7 TWh, from 12.3 TWh during the same period in 2021. Solar generation accounts for 4.7% of French electricity consumption.

The regions of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, and Grand Est have accounted for 70% of the newly connected power so far this year. They are the regions with the highest installed capacities, representing 73% of all cumulative power connected in France by the end of September.