France Doubles Renewables Curtailment on Supply-Demand Mismatch

France curtailed almost twice as much renewable electricity in the first half of 2025, compared with a year earlier, as a flood of midday clean energy collided with muted demand.

Renewable producers held back 2 terawatt-hours of generation in the first half of 2025, almost double the amount in the same period a year earlier, according to a report from grid operator RTE on Tuesday. Higher solar capacity and sunnier conditions drove much of this growth with the curtailment for the solar sector tripling to 1.2 terawatt-hours. From April to June, about 10% of solar generation was held back and 8% of wind.