France added 1.5GW of wind power capacity in 2018

France added 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of wind power capacity in 2018, taking its total installed power generation from wind turbines to 15.1GW, the energy ministry announced recently.

Electricity production from renewable wind sources was at 26.1 terawatt hour (TWh) in 2018, compared with 22.6TWh a year ago, and accounted for 5.5% of French electricity consumption during the year. The ministry said solar power sources connected to the electricity grid rose 9GW of installed capacity as of December 2018, short of its 10GW target, after 862 megawatts of projects were added during the calendar year.

It said 11.5GW of wind projects were in the pipeline. Power output from solar panels connected to the French power grid produced 9.2TWh of electricity in 2018, up 7% year-on-year, and covered 2% of electricity consumption. France is racing to triple wind power capacity by 2030 and to multiply by five its solar generation and boost the share of renewables in its energy mix to 40%