The French photovoltaic market has added 1,36 GW during the first half of 2021

The French photovoltaic market has overcomed the 431 MW added during the first half of 2020 or 2019 in a 217%, reaching a new record

The French Ministry of Ecological Transition (MTE) has announced that the french photovoltaic market has accelerated its growth during the first half of 2021 due to the connection to the grid of new 1,36 GW solar energy. This numbers represent an important acceleration compared to the previous years and are also a new kind of growth that the mediterranean country has not seen before. In terms of numbers, during the same period of 2020 and 2019, the photovoltaic power that was connected to the grid was estimated at 431GW, the third part of the growth experienced during this year.

In the first quarter of the year, newly deployed PV systems totaled 713 MW and in the second quarter their combined capacity reached 654 MW. Furthermone, during the first half of the year, solar PV generated around 7.6 TWh of power, compared to around 6.8 TWh for the same period of 2020, thanks to a higher level of solar radiation (specially in March and April), generating approximately the 3.1% of the French electricity consumption (+3% of increase compared to the same period of 2020).  This increase is outlined by an increase in the number of connections and also by a higher proportion of utility-scale PV plants, according to the MTE.

Around 66% of this new French photovoltaic power, corresponds to installations bigger than 250 kW (leses that 1% of the new connections). Small sized installations, the ones bellow 8 kW, represent almost 83% and around the 7% of this new energy power.

The regions that contributed most to this growth are ouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Grand-Est, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, that hosted around 69% of this new connected power in the continental France during this year.