US-headquartered high-efficiency PV cell and module producer SunPower Corp has surpassed 500MW of solar module orders through several rounds of government tenders in France.

The latest tender wins by Total Solar, the oil company’s recently established solar business in partnership with the renewable energy developer Groupe Carré, which was recently acquired by Irish IPP Amarenco amounted to 32MW over 70 small-scale projects across France. 

Julien Pouget, Senior Vice President, Renewables at Total SA said, “This success follows on from those under previous calls for tenders, especially for own consumption and large carports. We see rooftop solutions as particularly suitable for the development of solar power in France: fast-track deployment, land protection, distributed power production and own consumption.”

According to Total, SunPower is supplying over 500MW of its E-Series and X-Series modules under tenders won in France, making it the leading supplier in the country. 

“SunPower leads the French market in 2017,” added Philippe Sauquet, President, Gas, Renewables & Power at Total SA. “This reflects their customers' appreciation of the quality, efficiency and competitiveness of SunPower’s solar systems.”

SunPower, majority owned by Total had said in its second quarter 2017 earnings call that its ‘Solutions’ segment was already fully-booked in the third quarter and planned to undertake around 500MW of projects in the second half of the year. 

However, management made no direct reference in the earnings call to planned projects or module supply to France. The company also does not provide geographical breakouts for module shipments.