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
)