500 MW awarded in France's first onshore wind tender

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508.4 MW wind power capacity has been awarded in France's first onshore wind auction, split between 22 separate projects. The weighted average price proposed by the winners was EUR65.4 (US$79.77) per MWh. This represents a 23% drop on the premium purchase price of EUR85 (US$105.2) per MWh awarded under the previous support mechanism.

Eligible projects had to include a minimum of seven turbines or include at least one turbine exceeding 3 MW, and have to be online by 1 March 2021.  The bids submitted amounted to around 900 MW cumulative capacity.

Winners will receive a top-up to the market price to match their bid price. Around a third of the winners will also receive bonus of EUR2-3 per MWh for community participation, guaranteed for 20 years.

The winning projects are located all over France. The biggest concentration, 226.8 MW, will be located in Hauts-de-France, in the north. Over 70 MW projects will be located in the Centre-Val-de-Loire and Pays-de-la-Loire regions, with the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comtepes, Grand-Est, Normandie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine also represented in the tender results.

The auction was launched in May 2017. It is the first of six 500 MW wind tenders that will be held every six months so as to deploy 3,000 MW of onshore wind capacity over the next three years. This deployment will contribute significantly to achieving the government's goal of a 32% renewables share by 2030. The deadline for accepting proposals in the second 500 MW auction is 1 June 2018.

Despite the price drop, the costs of developing wind projects in France remain higher than elsewhere in Europe. Project lead-time in France is seven to nine years on average, and developers cannot update permits during project development. This affects the technology installed - anything new brought out after the initial permit has been approved cannot be incorporated into the project, meaning that French developers cannot install state of the art turbines.

The use of state of the art technology is further prohibited by limitations on the tip heights of wind turbines, often limited to 150m. In addition to this, 70% of authorised wind projects get held up in Administrative Tribunals.

However, the French government has proposed reforms to reduce the average time it takes for wind projects to be brought online. Together, hopefully these reforms and the six 500 MW tenders will stimulate the development of wind power in the country and lead to a significant increase in installed capacity.