France awards nearly 1GW onshore wind across 54 projects
France awards nearly 1GW onshore wind across 54 projects | Windpower Monthly
The tender allocated new onshore wind capacity in almost every region of France and saw 931MW awarded out of a total of around 1.6GW that was available according to analysis from French renewables consultancy firm Envinergy. Overall, 54 bids were awarded tender for onshore wind projects out of a total of 101 submissions.
The French ministry of energy transition confirmed the average price for energy allocated across the winning projects was €86.94/MWh.
The ministry said it was the third fully subscribed renewable energy auction in the country in 2023 after around 1GW of wind and 1.5GW of solar projects were awarded in tenders earlier this year. The next onshore wind tender opens on 4 December with 925MW of capacity up for tender.
Three regions secure half tendered capcity
Envinergy said that three regions secured 56% of the total capacity awarded. They were Nouvelle Aquitaine in the southwest (12 projects, 226MW), Grand Est in the northeast (7 projects, 187MW), and its neighbour Haut de France in the north (7 projects, 111MW).
The largest winners in the tender included French energy major RWE, French utility EDF, and a joint venture between French OEM Calyce with Belgian energy company TTR.
The ministry said the latest tender results would help the country transition off fossil fuels in line with its climate goals, which include a renewable energy production target of 40% by 2030.
The country currently has around 21.7GW of wind energy capacity installed at present, most of which is onshore, according to Windpower Intelligence, the data and research division of Windpower Monthly.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.