France will shatter its export records this year

Finally some good news on the energy front. This year, France's electricity exports are expected to reach a historic record! At the end of October, exports already stood at 75 TWh, which allows Marc Benayoun, executive director of EDF in charge of the customer division, to affirm that 90 TWh will be reached this year.

For comparison, in the heart of the industrial crisis, known as the stress corrosion crisis (SCC), which hit EDF in 2022, France had become an importer for the first time, with 16.5 TWh purchased from our neighbors . From 2023, the country has resumed exports to return to normal, with 50.3 TWh sold, mainly to the Benelux, Germany and Italy.

This return to green illustrates the rise in power of the nuclear fleet which has indeed turned the page on CCS, with nuclear production which will be between 340 and 360 TWh per year, the group having achieved its objectives with several months of advance. In 2022, this production had fallen to 279 TWh. Added to this are France's growing capacities in terms of renewable electricity production.

This is also excellent news for the French trade balance – exports are rather rare in the energy sector! On the other hand, it is a slightly less positive signal for French industrial activity and the electrification of uses desired by the government. This means that demand is not there and is struggling to be there.