France added 1,495 MW of new solar capacity in the first quarter of 2026, bringing its cumulative installed solar capacity to 33 GW, according to the French statistics agency SDES.
Although slightly lower than the 1,571 MW added during the same period in 2025, solar deployment remained robust.
Solar power generation reached 6.6 TWh in metropolitan France during the quarter, up from 5.9 TWh a year earlier. Excluding self-consumption, solar electricity accounted for 4.6% of national electricity demand, an increase of 0.7 percentage points year-on-year.
Self-consumption continued to expand, with 62% of photovoltaic installations generating electricity for full or partial on-site use.
A total of 481 GWh of solar electricity was self-consumed during the quarter, representing 7% of total solar output.
Meanwhile, France’s solar project pipeline stood at 36.1 GW, despite a slight decline from the previous quarter.
