France's electricity production reached “its highest level in five years” in 2024. This performance was achieved thanks to the “rapid recovery” of nuclear power and “record” renewable production (hydroelectricity, wind, solar, biomass), high voltage network manager RTE announced this Monday.
“Low carbon production (nuclear and renewable) has reached the threshold of 95% for the first time” of total electricity produced in France, this having reached 536.5 TWh (terawatt hours) in 2024, at the same level as 2019, the year before Covid-19, according to figures communicated to AFP (Agence France presse). This production is “in line with the 2014-2019 average (537.5 TWh)”
In Germany, which has abandoned nuclear power, the share of electricity produced from renewable sources has reached 59%. The share of low-carbon electricity (nuclear and renewable) stood at 58% in the United Kingdom, which has turned the page on coal.
The French increase of 8.45% compared to 2023 results from several factors: the recovery of nuclear power (361.7 TWh) after a level in 2022 at the lowest level in 30 years (279 TWh), due to corrosion problems in the nuclear fleet, and a gradual recovery in 2023; “exceptional hydraulic production”, at its highest since 2013 (74.7 TWh) and “sustained growth in production from the wind and solar sectors (70 TWh in 2024, compared to 46 TWh in 2019)”.
-Nuclear remains the leading source of electricity production, with a share of 67.41%, far ahead of renewables (wind, solar, dams, biomass). But this renewable production “reached a record of 148 TWh, or 27.6% of total production”, underlines RTE. Around a third came from wind power (46.6 TWh).
According to RTE, production in fossil power plants (gas, coal, fuel oil) experienced, in 2024, “its lowest level since the beginning of the 1950s (19.9 TWh)”, representing “for the first time”, a cumulative level lower than solar production (23.3 TWh). Little used, gas power plants produced 17.4 TWh in 2024 compared to 29.2 TWh in 2023, and “the production of coal (0.7 TWh) and fuel oil (1.8 TWh) power plants remained low” , details RTE.
