France Announces Tender For 400 MW Of Large Solar Photovoltaic Plants

March 18th, 2013 by James Ayre

A tender for 400 MW of new solar photovoltaic plants that are 250 kW or larger was recently announced by the French Ministry of Energy, Ecology, and Sustainable Development.

Image Credit: Solar Map France via Wikimedia Commons

Their statement specified that there will be priority given to projects that are developed on “soil degraded sites,” such as brown-fields. This is being done so as to limit conflicts pertaining to development on farmland. Both ground-mounted plants and roof projects are eligible.

“The French Ministry has removed the requirement of bank guarantees before submission of the tenders to avoid disadvantaging small- and medium-sized businesses,” PV-Magazine stated in its coverage.

“Furthermore, the tender will take into account the carbon footprint of the projects and their contribution to research and development in terms of increasing innovation and employment in France.” Tender submissions will be accepted until the September 16 deadline.

As of right now, France’s total PV capacity is only around 3.5 GW, but it has recently been adopting policies that should help to increase the rate of adoption. In January, it doubled its annual minimum installation rate, from 500 MW in 2012 to 1 GW in 2013.

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Tags: 400 MW new solar Tender France, France, France 400 MW PV tender, france solar, solar energy tender France

About the Author

James Ayre 's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy. You can follow his work on Google+.