The average cost per megawatt for electricity production has fallen in the latest French onshore wind tender in mid-February, according to the French government's data, WindEurope reported on Friday.
According to WindEurope's statement, 22 projects totaling 508 megawatts (MW) were awarded in the tender, all of which won on low-cost alone.
"The weighted average winning price was €65 megawatts per hour (MW/h). This was lower than the current tariff for smaller projects at €72 MW/h and the €82 MW/h Feed-in Tariff previously awarded," the statement read.
Under the new scheme, wind farms will sell their electricity with guarantees of revenues for 20 years.
For the first time, projects were eligible for a bonus if they included crowd-funding, which was the case for a third of the projects.
The French government welcomed the results and said it would extend the competitive tender model to more wind farms in future.
The
tender model previously only applied to wind farms with at least seven turbines
or with one or several turbines with nominal capacity strictly higher than 3
MW.
WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said that it is good to see costs fall. However,
they remain higher in France than elsewhere in Europe for a number of reasons.
"First, because project lead-time in France is seven to nine years on average, and once you apply for your permit at the start of the process it’s almost impossible to update it later on with the latest technology," he said.
The French government is tendering a total of 3 GW of wind energy capacity in six stages over three years. The second competitive tender for 500 MW will be open from May 1 to 1 June 2018.
(Anadolu Agency)
