The French energy regulator has published 17 updated specifications for renewable energy tenders to facilitate rapid deployment of projects in the context of the energy crisis and the pandemic. These proposed adjustments apply to successful bidders for all periods beginning September 1, 2022, as long as they submit an application to the Department of Energy.

The French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has published updated versions of all specifications for the "CRE4" and "PPE2" renewable energy tenders.

The new rules, which include regulatory changes announced by the government earlier this summer, will facilitate faster deployment of renewable energy facilities across the country. Overall, the changes concern 17 specifications for different renewable energy sources, 13 of which involve solar tenders, including French mainland or non-interconnected regions, and apply to ground and rooftop projects, as well as self-consumption arrays and installations without energy storage.

The portfolio of projects contains approximately 6.1 GW of installed renewable energy capacity at various stages of development and operation, including 3.4 GW of wind and 2.7 GW of solar. The winning bidders will be able to apply these new regulations as long as they apply to France's Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Spatial Planning from September 1.

"The overall goal of these modifications is to enable electricity producers to absorb some of the cost and price increases, particularly by selling the electricity they generate on the market," CRE said in a release.

The governing body has published a list of solar tenders arranged by type of installation:

• Solar Power Facility "Solar Power Station"
• Solar power generation facilities "power stations with an installed capacity between 100 kWc and 8 MWc for powering buildings, greenhouses, crop warehouses and car park roofs"
• Facility for innovative power generation with solar energy
• Innovative power generation with solar power without energy storage
• Electricity generated from renewable energy and automatic electricity consumption in France
• Power generation facilities with an installed capacity greater than 100 kWc, located in non-interconnected areas and using solar radiation conversion technology
• Facilities that generate electricity from solar energy and are located in non-interconnected areas
• Automatic electricity consumption facilities that generate electricity from renewable energy and are located in non-interconnected areas
• Automatic electricity consumption facilities that generate electricity from renewable energy and are located in non-interconnected areas
• Solar power facility "Energy jump in the field of Fessenheim"
• Solar Power Facility "Solar Power Station"
• Electricity generated by photovoltaic solar or wind energy, and a facility located in mainland France
• Solar power generation facilities "power stations with an installed capacity greater than 500 kWc for supplying power to buildings, greenhouses, crop warehouses and car park roofs"