Lhe net exports of electricity from France to its neighbors have reached a record level in 2024, at 89 terawatt hours (TWh), indicated this Thursday, January 2, Thomas Veyrenc, the general director of Economy, Strategy and Finance of RTE, the manager of the high voltage network. In 2002, the date of the previous annual record, the export balance stood at 76.9 TWh. France also broke a one-day electricity export record on November 13.
This performance is all the more remarkable given that national electricity production was still affected two years ago. Weighed down by the corrosion of pipes essential to the safety of a number of nuclear reactors, EDF had to shut them down for in-depth examinations and repairs. Between these hazards and traditional maintenance operations, 32 reactors out of the 56 in EDF's fleet were shut down during the summer of 2022. So much so that nuclear production had fallen to 279 TWh this year – there, its lowest level in thirty years. France had been a net importer of electricity for almost the entire year, a first in forty-two years.
Hydroelectric dams too
Business recovered in 2023, with an export balance of 50.1 TWh. In 2024, EDF increased its nuclear production forecasts in September, before a further upward revision on December 11. From a range of 340-360 TWh, it increased to 358-364 TWh. Although it accounts for almost nothing in this total, the Flamanville EPR, which was connected to the network on December 21, is expected to increase the volume in 2025.
In addition to the “spectacular recovery of nuclear power”, “exceptional hydraulic production” and the “continued development of wind and solar power” have contributed to the rebound in French electricity production over the past year, underlines Thomas Veyrenc. The precipitation, which made 2024 one of the ten wettest years in France since 1959, abundantly filled the dams. Unlike 2022 where the problems of the nuclear fleet coincided with a historic drought.
Europe linked by interconnections
The record electricity exports were also facilitated by the weakness of French electricity consumption, which is not a good sign. “Transfers in the use of fossil fuels towards electricity have not been initiated at the level required to deeply decarbonize,” notes Thomas Veyrenc.
Exports concerned all border countries: Germany and Belgium (with a positive balance of 27.2 TWh), Italy (+ 22.3 TWh), the United Kingdom (+ 21 TWh), Switzerland (+16.7 TWh) as well as Spain, to a lesser extent (+2.8 TWh).
The country is today connected to the “European electrical plate” by a series of cross-border lines. At the start of 2024, France had 37 interconnections – energy exchanges thanks to European electricity markets – operated with six neighboring states, and 20 cross-border connections – supplying customer stations located abroad. The European electricity market is one of the largest in the world, with 305,000 kilometers of lines operating on the same frequency (50 Hz).
