Between the Iberian Peninsula and France, a strong electrical interconnection

The Iberian Peninsula in the dark. A massive electricity failure hit Spain and part of Portugal this Monday, April 28, disturbing telephone networks, transport or even payment systems. The south of France has been temporarily affected, with “Private power households for a few minutes in the Basque Country”, reports RTE. The manager of the electrical network promises, however, that there is “No contagion” to fear from this incident, the French network being “secure”.

Pending the end of the investigation into the exact causes of the cut, the EDF subsidiary specifies that it is mobilized for “Assistance to the Spanish network manager” and that “700 MW of Spanish consumption have already been realized by RTE”. “RTE is able to increase your help in Spain to 950 MW as soon as the Iberian network is able to accommodate it”she adds. This rapid and massive help brought by the French manager illustrates how much electrical systems in different European countries are today largely connected.

France, this “electric crossroads”

Most continental European countries are part of a large synchronous network, the second largest in the world, which shares the same frequency of 50 Hz. Clearly, the idea is to pool production capacities by taking advantage of complementarities between national energy mix. This allows the old continent to secure supplies, reduce costs and increase the share of decarbonized energies. France plays a role of “Electric crossroads” in these European exchanges because of its position “At the intersection of several electric peninsulas (Iberian peninsula, Italy, Great Britain)”, but also thanks to his “Important production capacities installed”, Explain the 2024 electrical assessment of RTE. Thanks to nuclear, hydraulics and other renewables, the French mix is “On the whole more competitive than that of most of its neighbors”.

France is also a clear electricity exporter to the six neighbors with whom it is interconnected, and recorded in 2024 the highest exporter balance in its history: 89 TWh. It exports in priority to Germany and Belgium (31.3 TWh), Italy (22.3 TWh), Great Britain (20.9 TWh) and Switzerland (17.4 TWh). Spain appears in sixth position with 9.4 imported TWh, but it is, however, by far, the first exporter to France (6.6 TWh).

In recent years, France and Spain have largely increased their interconnections. The two countries have almost doubled the total volume of their exchanges in ten years (16 TWh in 2024 against 9.4 in 2014). If France was generally exporting until the mid -2010s, exchanges gradually balanced as the Spanish mix became more competitive. “Between 2014 and 2024, the Spanish wind farm went from 22 GW to nearly 32 GW; the solar production park from 7 to 31 GW »specifies RTE. This led to a decrease in the French net exporter balance (-5.9 TWh) between 2002 and 2024 on this border. In 2023, the annual exchange of exchanges was very close to balance, and France was even slightly importing (-1.8 TWh). In 2024, the balance was slightly in favor of France (+2.8 TWh).

The Faramineous Project of the Gulf of Gascogne

“The mechanisms governing exchanges on the Franco-Spanish border are increasingly coordinated and flexible, and the exchanges, therefore, more and more fluid”welcomes RTE. The manager also explains that the increase in exchanges was facilitated by the integration of markets and the construction of new transport infrastructure, like the Baixas DC interconnection (Pyrenees Orientales, France) – Santa Llogaia (Catalonia, Spain) in 2015. This high -voltage line through the Pyrenees, a length of 64.5 km, allowed “Double the exchange capacity from 1400 to 2800 MW” According to the operator Inelfe. Before 2015, the two countries were connected by two 400 kV lines (Argia – Hernani and Baixas – Vic) and two 225 kV lines (Argia – Arkale and Pragnières – Biescas). The exchange capacity was then 1400 MW.

Since 2023, Inelfe has been working on another high -voltage line, that of the Gulf of Gascogne, 400 km long and buried in the ground at the bottom of the ocean between the Cubnezais post (near Bordeaux) and the Gatika position (near Bilbao). A staggering project which must double the exchange capacities of electricity between France and Spain to bring them to 5,000 MW. “That is to say what to fuel around 5 million households”specifies RTE. The two countries have electricity consumption “Contractyclics”explains RTE. Spain is not a lot of French electricity in summer due to the massive use of air conditioning. From mid-November, it is France that imports Spanish electricity for the heating period, taking advantage of a “Extremely high wind production throughout the Iberian Peninsula”.

What about Portugal in all of this? Via an approach by “Flow tracing” which takes into account a European perimeter extended to 15 countries, RTE explains that it is legitimate to consider that“Part of the electricity exchanged between France and Spain is attributable to production in Portugal”. Portugal is even the first non-border country among those who import electricity from France, with 6% of the total volume (5.5 TWh), more than French exports to Spain (3%). “This indicates that Spain frequently plays the role of transit countries between France and Portugal”concludes the manager.