France connects 200 MW of wind power to grid in Q2 2017

France added 200 MW of new wind power in the second quarter of 2017, bringing the overall capacity to 12,341 MW, France's transmission system operator RTE reports.

New additions over the three months to June were less than the 380 MW installed in the first quarter but in the 12-months to June, wind power capacity grew by 12.9% adding 1,414 MW to the grid.

The sector currently covers 82.3% of the government target for 2018. Installations should pick the pace by approximately 25% to install 1,770 per year.

Wind farms in France generated over 20 TWh of electricity in the 12 months to June, 12.8% less than in the prior period due to unfavourable weather conditions. Load factor over the period in review was 19.4%, compared to 25% in the prior period. Still, wind power supplied 4.2% of the electricity consumption in France over the 12 months to June 2017.

Project pipeline grew by 518 MW in the 12 months to June and reached 11,734 MW at June 30, 2017 with 5,299 MW of these to be connected to the grid of RTE, 5,930 MW to the grid managed by Enerdis, 498 MW to the grid of ELD and 6 MW in Corsica.

The Q2 overview was prepared by RTE, in cooperation with electricity distributor Enedis, renewable energy association SER and Adeef, the association of energy distributors in France.

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