France

Electricity bill payers in nations as diverse as Germany, Greece, India and China should be aware new solar projects can now generate electricity cheaper for them than legacy coal and gas-fired plants.

A French start-up has developed a concrete flywheel to store solar energy in an innovative way. Currently being tested in France, the storage solution will be initially offered in France’s overseas territories and Africa.

The French government has selected 329 projects in its latest procurement exercise. Average prices were €77.62/ MWh for large power plants (500 kWp to 8 MWp) and €87.23/MWh for projects below 500 kWp.

French grid operator RTE has outlined six scenarios on how France’s energy system may achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In the most optimistic one, solar is expected to reach a cumulative capacity of 208 GW.

A €4.8 million EU-funded research project is aiming to develop a process that allows recovering all components of a photovoltaic module.

Sun’Agri, REM Tec, Kilowattsol and Altergie Développement et Râcines have announced the creation of France Agrivoltaisme, the world’s first association for the promotion of agrivoltaics.

France’s Solar Cloth has announced that Renault Trucks has listed it as a supplier for its factories.

Around 65% of new capacity additions in France came from PV systems above 250 kW in size in the first quarter, according to government statistics.

Total shareholders approved plans last week to change its name and logo to TotalEnergies. It is now heavily focusing on investments in renewable energy and hydrogen.

The trade body has highlighted a lack of explicit PV industry support in EU member states which already host domestic manufacturers, such as Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and Lithuania, and says the focus on green hydrogen could exacerbate the solar trade deficit with Asia.