The French government is moving forward with its procurement process for onshore wind power generation projects and has set December 17, 2026 as the deadline for submitting bids, according to an update published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The call for proposals, managed by the Ministry for Ecological Transition , contemplates the construction and operation of electricity generation facilities using wind power in the French metropolitan mainland, under a scheme of supplementary remuneration contracts.
According to the documentation, the projects selected by the Minister responsible for Energy will have access to a supplementary remuneration contract for the electricity produced , in accordance with the provisions of the French Energy Code.
This new phase corresponds to the 13th round of the PPE2 scheme for onshore wind , with applications accepted between December 7 and 17. The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) published the applicable tender documents and gave a favorable opinion on their content.
One of the main changes will be the incorporation of an eligibility criterion linked to industrial resilience , in application of the European Union's Net Zero Emissions Industry Act (NZIA).
Specifically, for a call for tenders that includes 1 GW of onshore wind power , developers will not be able to concentrate more than 85% of the permanent magnets of their wind turbines in the dominant supplier , identified in the reference documentation as China.
The measure seeks to reduce dependence on critical components and promote a more diversified supply chain, although the CRE itself warned of a possible effect on prices.
The regulator supported the introduction of the criterion, but noted that developers still have little visibility into the availability of wind turbines that meet these requirements , which could translate into higher bids.
The new round comes after strong competition in the latest French wind power tenders.
In the 11th PPE2 round , which closed in May, projects totaling 2,377.9 MW were submitted for a mere 800 MW of available capacity . The CRE proposed awarding 39 projects totaling 808.03 MW, with a weighted average price of €77.08/MWh , €9.5/MWh lower than the previous round.
That result was also influenced by a high participation of repowering projects, which the regulator considers, on average, more competitive than new developments.
The December call for tenders maintains an open bidding process without an accelerated procedure. Proposals must be submitted exclusively electronically through the CRE platform and will be subject not only to price, but also to other criteria established in the tender documents.
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Eligible facilities include projects that cannot access certain regulated energy purchase contracts and others that already have prior requests for supplementary remuneration or advance agreements that are not yet in force.
The regulations also allow developers to submit different configurations compared to previous applications, including changes in installed power or the number of wind turbines .
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The incorporation of NZIA criteria introduces a new variable into a scheme that has so far been dominated mainly by price competition, project maturity and technical conditions.
The aim is for the new contracts to not only incorporate renewable generation, but also contribute to reducing strategic dependencies within the European wind power supply chain.
The issue is not insignificant for France. The CRE itself previously estimated that more than 96% of the power awarded in the PPE2 wind energy processes uses European turbines , in a market where Vestas and Nordex together account for around 85% of the power considered by the regulator.
Now, the focus is also shifting towards specific components used within those machines.
Developers will thus have to balance three variables: competitiveness of the offered price, technological availability, and compliance with the new industrial criteria .
Submission deadlines and obligations of the successful bidders
The call for proposals states that they must be submitted exclusively through electronic procedures, via the official website of the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) .
The deadline for submissions is December 17, 2026 at 23:59 hours in mainland France , while the documentation specifies that bids must be written in French.
Furthermore, a validity of three years is established for the proposals , a relevant element for developers when structuring their commercial and technical commitments.
The administrative record for the procedure indicates an estimated start date of December 7, 2026 , and a duration of 60 months . However, this information pertains to the procedure's registration and should not be interpreted as individual construction or commercial operation dates for the parks.
With this new step, France is once again putting onshore wind capacity up for competition under the PPE2 scheme, but adds a condition that could mark the next rounds: the origin and concentration of the supply chain are starting to weigh heavily, along with the price of energy, when competing for long-term public contracts .