France deployed, last year, 11 MW less PV than in 2019.

Image: Ministry of Ecological Transition

PV systems with a combined capacity of 973 MW were installed in France last year, according to new figures released by the French Ministry of Ecological Transition. This compares to 962 MW a year earlier, 883 MW in 2018, and 890 MW in 2017.

Of the newly installed capacity for 2020, around 241 MW was deployed in the fourth quarter while, in the third quarter, new additions had totaled 335 MW. For the first two quarters of the year, new PV systems had reached a combined capacity of 196 and 201 MW, respectively.

Around 47% of the new capacity corresponds to solar arrays exceeding 250 kW in size that, however, represent less than 1% of the number of new connections. Smaller-sized installations, below 9 kW, represent almost 85% of the number of newly connected units and around 11% of the new capacity.

Overall, the country’s cumulative installed solar power had reached 10,860 MW as of the end of December, of which 10,237 MW are located on the French mainland.

The latest statistics revealed 8.9 GW of approved projects are sitting in the grid-connection queue, including 3 GW with grid-connection approvals.

The Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d´Azur regions accounted for 63% of the newly connected power in the country in 2020. These are the four regions with the highest installed capacities, representing 69% of the total solar power connected in France at the end of 2020.

Last year, production from solar photovoltaic sources amounted to 12.9 TWh, compared to 11.6 TWh in 2019. This sharp increase is mainly due to excess sunshine in France in April and May, in addition to the increase in installed capacity. Solar production currently represents 2.9% of French electricity consumption, an increase of 0.4% compared to that of the previous year.