France PPE2 P9 Solar Tender Prices Fall 23% to €61.33/MWh

France’s latest ground-mounted solar tender has delivered a significant price decline, highlighting intensifying competition in one of Europe’s key renewable energy markets. Results from the ninth period of the PPE2 PV Sol tender, announced in October 2026, show that the weighted average awarded price fell to €61.33/MWh, down approximately 23% from €79.48/MWh in the previous round.

The tender awarded 931.4 MWp of solar capacity across 125 projects, against an initially requested volume of 925 MWp. The results point to growing pressure on developers to deliver projects at increasingly competitive costs. Source: France’s Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE).

Record competition drives prices lower

The P9 ground-mounted tender attracted substantial interest from project developers. According to the CRE’s published summary, submitted projects represented approximately 5.36 GWp of capacity, compared with the 925 MWp initially sought.

This significant oversubscription increased competition for the available allocation. With more projects competing for a limited volume, developers faced greater pressure to submit lower electricity prices to secure awards.

The decline from €79.48/MWh to €61.33/MWh represents a reduction of €18.15/MWh, or approximately 22.8%. Such a sharp movement can materially affect project economics, particularly for developers working with higher land, construction, financing or equipment costs.

Small-scale solar tenders also record lower prices

The downward trend was also visible in France’s smaller PV tender segment, covering installations between 100 kWp and 500 kWp.

The second period of the PPE2 Petit PV tender recorded a weighted average awarded price of €75.48/MWh, down approximately 15% from €88.73/MWh in its first period.

The tender selected 871 projects with a combined capacity of 288.3 MWp. This suggests that competitive pressure is extending beyond larger ground-mounted projects into smaller installations.

What does this mean for solar module suppliers?

Lower awarded electricity prices do not directly translate into equivalent reductions in solar module prices. Tender bids represent the price of electricity generated by a project, rather than the cost of the modules alone.

However, declining awarded prices can increase pressure on the entire project supply chain. Developers may seek more competitive module prices, lower balance-of-system costs, improved financing terms and greater operational efficiency to preserve project returns.

For module manufacturers supplying the French market, this creates a challenging environment. Competitive pricing remains important, but suppliers must also demonstrate product quality, reliable delivery, bankability and compliance with tender requirements.

Supply-chain resilience adds another consideration

The P9 tender also included supply-chain resilience requirements intended to reduce dependence on a dominant non-EU third country for key photovoltaic components.

The framework identifies eight major components, including polysilicon, ingots, wafers, solar cells, glass, modules, inverters and trackers. Projects must satisfy the applicable origin and component-counting conditions, including requirements covering modules, cells and inverters.

These provisions make sourcing strategy increasingly important. Manufacturers with diversified supply chains and the documentation needed to demonstrate compliance may be better positioned to serve eligible projects, even as developers face tighter price constraints.

Outlook: A more competitive French solar market

France’s latest PPE2 results send a clear signal to the solar industry: developers are competing aggressively for available capacity, and awarded electricity prices are falling sharply.

The combination of lower tender prices and supply-chain resilience requirements creates both challenges and opportunities. Developers must control costs without compromising project viability, while module manufacturers must balance price competitiveness with traceability, quality and delivery reliability.

For the wider European solar market, the P9 results underline a growing reality: winning projects increasingly depends on combining competitive economics with a compliant and dependable supply chain.