France: Insufficient subscription for the 9th round of rooftop photovoltaic bidding, resulting in a decrease in electricity prices

Recently, the French Ministry of Ecological Transformation has completed the 9th round of rooftop photovoltaic bidding, which belongs to the sixth round of PPE2 (multi-year energy planning) framework. The original plan was to bid for 400MW, but only 54 projects with a total installed capacity of 220.3MW were ultimately awarded. Among these projects, 13 have a single installed capacity exceeding 5MW, while the rest are between 500kW and 5MW. The projects will be installed in buildings, agricultural photovoltaic greenhouses, sunshades, and agricultural photovoltaic sunshades.

Due to the decrease in photovoltaic module prices, the winning bid price this time is lower than the previous round, with an average winning bid price of € 98.2/MWh ($107/MWh), a decrease of 1.7% from the previous round's € 99.95/MWh, which is also the lowest winning bid price since the third round of bidding.

According to Finergreen data, 62% of the awarded capacity is located in northern France. All regions in France have won bids for projects, with Hauts de France receiving 55.2MW, ranking first. Other major winning regions include Centre Val de Loire with 30.9MW and Nouvelle Aquitaine with 27.7MW.

From the perspective of winning bidders, Urbasolar ranks first with a scale of 40.9MW, followed by UNITe (38.8MW) and GLP (20.9MW).

The French government will continue to provide 400MW capacity in the 10th round of rooftop photovoltaic bidding, and the deadline for bidding applications is March 28, 2025. It is worth mentioning that previously, the French Ministry of Industry and Energy announced that it will reduce incentives for rooftop photovoltaic projects below 500kW from February 1, 2025, which may affect future investment returns for small-scale rooftop photovoltaics.