The deal is the fourth power purchase agreement secured by Voltalia in its homeland. French retailer Auchan will buy the electricity under a 20-year contract.

The final average price for power generated by solar systems with capacities ranging from 100 kW to 500 kW came in at €96.49/MWh. The price for installations ranging in size from 500 kW to 8 MW was €86.17/MWh.

The levelized cost of energy generated by large scale solar plants is around $0.068/kWh, compared to $0.378 ten years ago and the price fell 13.1% between 2018 and last year alone, according to figures released by the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Over the past two years, German renewables business Baywa re has developed in-house floating solar technology and installed nearly 50 MW of projects in the Netherlands. Benoît Roux, director of solar activities at Baywa re in France, said the ramp-up in project size has enabled the company to achieve dramatic cost reductions.

The French government has selected seven agrivoltaic projects with a total generation capacity of 12 MW in its latest tender for innovative PV technology.

The French oil and gas company will develop the vehicle with engineering compatriot Gaussin. Intended for the Airbus industrial site in Toulouse, the vehicle will be equipped with a lithium-ion battery made by Total subsidiary Saft and will be able to tow two 30-ton fuel tanks.

Quarterly new additions were 15% lower than in the October-to-December window. The France Territoire Solaire thinktank said the lower volumes could be explained by the initial impact of the coronavirus crisis.

The Norwegian solar manufacturer is considering a 2 GW heterojunction solar module factory in Sarreguemines, in the northeast of the country.

Startup Solean claims that its new fully automated production equipment offers a highly flexible way to bring panel manufacturing back to Europe.

French PV company Solea has developed a system which can produce 8-16 liters of solar-powered disinfectant solution per day.