France

The French energy giant is offering to acquire Innogy, the renewable energy unit of German power provider RWE. Innogy acquired German developer Belectric and its huge solar power plant portfolio in January.

The French government announced that 79 ground-mounted PV projects with a combined capacity of 534.5 MW were selected through the latest bidding round for large-scale solar. Average price for the sale of power from these projects came in at €62.5 ($65.9) per MWh.

France’s Parliament has given final passage to a law that regulates the installation of renewable energy systems for self-consumption. The new legislation will provide a clear regulatory framework for the grid-connection of these installations.

French cumulative PV capacity has surpassed 7 GW. In 2016, however, the market registered a 62% decrease in new installations, with the figure coming in at 559 MW. PV plants over 250 kW covered almost two thirds of the new capacity installed last year.

SunPower has announced that it will supply 64.4 MW of its high efficiency E-Series solar panels to seven PV power plants in France. Meanwhile, First Solar has announced that it will supply 106.5 MW of its thin film modules to power 14 power plants under the third round of procurement initiated by France’s Energy Regulatory Commission.

Two new programs supporting both residential and largers scale solar will enable France to develop around 2.6 GW of new projects, pushing the country to reach its EU set target of producing 23% of its energy from renewable sources.

A new report from Clean Horizon points to several major developments in the French energy market, which point to the nation becoming Europe’s next big market for storage.

The French Ministry of Energy, Ecology and Sustainable Development has announced the winners of a tender concerning the installation of 80 MW of rooftop PV projects. Winning projects will receive on average a generation tariff of EUR 131.25 per MWh.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has tracked down Philae, Rosetta’s spacecraft probe, resting in a dark crack on Comet 67P. The news bears great scientific significance for ESA as well as a certain emotional value for PV fans who have watched the Rosetta mission being entirely powered by the sun for about twelve years.

Spain and France have interconnected a new grid line that doubles the electricity exchange between the two countries. With a power capacity of 2 GW and capable of reversing the direction of flow of the energy exchanges between Spain and France in just 50 milliseconds, the new line is expected to boost renewable energy.