France's installed renewables capacity crosses 50 GW

France connected to its mainland grid 565 MW of renewables in the third quarter, most of which wind and solar, official statistics show.

As a result, the country’s cumulative installed capacity at the end of September crossed the 50,000-MW threshold, coming at 50,188 MW, according to figures published by transmission system operator RTE. Of the total, wind farms accounted for 14,288 MW, while 8,374 MW was solar.

In the third quarter of 2018, France brought online 315 MW of wind farms, down from 538 MW a year earlier. Around 4.1% of the nation’s metropolitan power demand was covered by wind generation, which amounted to 4 TWh.

Meanwhile, 213 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity was put on stream in the three months, representing an increase from the 172 MW commissioned in the year-ago period. The output of solar farms totalled 3.9 TWh, covering 3.9% of France's metropolitan consumption.

Overall, renewables were responsible for meeting 21% of the country’s electricity demand in July-September.

According to RTE, France is on track to meet its goal of having 15,000 MW of installed wind power capacity by end-2018. For solar, however, it would likely miss its target, calling for 10,200 MW of installed PV parks, also by the end of the year, RTE said.

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