LOIC VENANCE / AFP
Good weather conditions for the season, a favorable wind and better availability of the nuclear fleet made it possible to achieve this record.
ENERGY – Record broken in France. Manager of the electricity network in France, RTE announced this Tuesday, December 26 that the country had exported a record volume of electricity to its neighbors on Friday, December 22.
In question ? Lower national needs and better availability of the nuclear fleet which enabled France to supply 18,680 megawatts (MW) outside its borders. This peak was reached on Friday at 4 p.m. For comparison, France’s previous export record was 17,415 MW, set on February 22, 2019.
RTE specifies that the beneficiaries of these electricity exports were Germany and Benelux (5.4 GW), Italy (4.4 GW), Switzerland (3.2 GW), the United Kingdom (3 GW) and Spain (2.6 GW).
Favorable conditions
“There is a need at the moment which is a little lower in consumption in France, since we are in a holiday period”underlined RTE to explain this peak in record exports.
Météo-France adds to AFP that the temperatures of last week, particularly Thursday, “may have been 4 to 6 degrees above seasonal norms”. Enough to explain the less important needs of France.
From Friday, The echoes had announced the new record, also explaining it with “ strong winds “. Wind power has thus covered nearly 20% of national electricity production, adds RTE.
The electricity network manager also highlights production costs “competitive”given that “the availability of all our means of production, particularly nuclear power”increased compared to last year.
The complete opposite of 2022
For RTE, the risk of seeing the same scenario as during winter 2022 recur is therefore further away. It must be said that the year 2022 placed France in an unprecedented situation due to corrosion problems detected on several nuclear reactors.
Made unavailable, these reactors had caused nuclear production to fall to its lowest level in 30 years. Which then forced France to import electricity for the first time in 42 years.
“A notable proportion of the nuclear fleet was able to be checked and repaired during the year”RTE reported at the beginning of November, during its traditional press briefing on the passage of winter.
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