French wind power capacity breaks 5GW barrier

FRANCE: Installed wind capacity in France broke through the 5GW threshold at the end of June according to grid operator Réseau de Transport d'Electricité (RTE).

Fonds-de-Fresne Somme département, Picardie region. France has 5GW of wind power online
The country, which ranks fourth in Europe after Germany, Spain and Italy, is chasing a target of 19GW of onshore capacity by 2020.

However, this is becoming increasingly unlikely following the passage of the Grenelle 2 law, which adds further constraints to what is already a long and complex permitting process.