* March solar output 23% higher on year, wind up 35%
* Installed solar capacity up 16% on year, wind up 11.5%
* Combined renewables capacity up 2 GW on year
An increase in installed renewables capacity saw output from wind
and solar farms increase in March this year by 32% compared with the
same period last year, according to the latest figures from French
grid operator RTE.
Solar output was up 23% on year at 661 GWh, after installed capacity
increased by 16% since March 2015 to 6.31 GW.
Meanwhile, wind output was up by 35% at 2.42 GWh, with wind capacity
having also increased on year by 11.5% to 10.405 GW.
Together, wind and solar made up circa 6% of the total power
generation mix, while fossil-fuel generation accounted for just over
8% of the mix.
A 300 MW solar power generation park, Cestas, in the Bordeaux region
in France, the largest in Europe, entered full service in November
last year.
The Cestas plant holds a 20-year power offtake agreement with EDF at
a price of Eur105/MWh ($130/MWh) under France's regulated feed-in
tariff mechanism.
The cost of solar production has fallen sharply in recent years on
cheaper component costs, and this price is lower than the 35-year
contract price of GBP92.50/MWh (Eur117.0/MWh) agreed on by the UK
government for EDF's planned 3.2 GW Hinkley Point C nuclear power
plant.
RTE's report showed that more wind capacity is currently under
construction or "in the pipeline" than solar capacity.
Three onshore wind projects totaling 128 MW are being constructed
and 3.26 GW worth of offshore wind projects are "pending".
Meanwhile, only 105 MW worth of solar projects are waiting to move
into construction phase, with 19 MW in the process of being brought
online.
--Ana-Maria Tolbaru,
ana-maria.tolbaru@platts.com
--Edited by James Leech,
james.leech@platts.com
© 2016 Platts, The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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