Wind power generation in France hits 10 TWh in H1 2015

France map of wind power installed capacity at end June 2015, Source: French Energy Ministry

Wind farms in France produced 10 TWh in the first six months of the year, marking a 10% year-on-year increase, statistics released by the energy ministry show.

Wind power supplied 4.1% of the electricity demand in France over the period, slightly up from 3.8% achieved in the first six months in 2014.

Installed capacity in the country reached 9,761 MW at the end of June with 385 MW newly added in the first half of the year.

	end-June 2015 (MW)	end-June 2014 (MW)	y/y change (in %)
Total wind power capacity (in MW)	9,761 MW	9,376 MW	4%
Number of wind farms	1,353	1,316	3%

France had a pipeline of 565 onshore wind power projects with a combined capacity of 6,993 MW at the end of June. Of these, 173 projects with a total capacity of 1,924 MW have already signed grid-connection contracts and at least some of them will start feeding electricity to the grid in the coming quarters.

Offshore, the pipeline expanded to 8 projects with a combined capacity of 3.1 GW. Only one offshore wind farm with a projected installed capacity of 105 MW already has a grid-connection contract and commissioning is expected soon.

France has recently opened a tender for pilot offshore wind projects with floating turbines.

The country targets to generate 40% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

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