This result confirms the trend observed from mid-2024², since France already posted a record net exports in the first half of the year with 43 TWh (compared to 18 TWh for the same period in 2023). Exports were particularly high during the months of May and July, with a new monthly record reached in May (9.2 TWh), the previous record dating from July 2014 (7.9 TWh).
For comparison, France's annual balance had reached 50.1 TWh in the direction of exports in 2023. This value, close to the average of previous years (around 55 TWh/year of net exports on average over the period 1990-2022), already reflected the clear improvement in the availability of French production capacities after a year 2022 marked, for the first time since 1980, by an import balance net (16.5 TWh).
In 2024, this new record for net electricity exports is the result of the significant recovery in French nuclear production, the continued development of renewable production (wind and solar) as well as the abundance of hydroelectric production. While French electricity consumption remains low, in the downward trend of the last 10 years under the effect of better energy efficiency of equipment, reinforced by the increase in prices and the sobriety actions implemented in 2022 and maintained since then by the French. .
The final consumption data, adjusted for weather hazards, will be published in February by RTE, in its 2024 National Electricity Report.
Mostly low-carbon and competitive on the markets, French electricity production is frequently used to supply European consumption. This situation concretely demonstrates the positive role of electricity exchanges at European level for the French trade balance, the optimization of the operation of the electricity system for the benefit of the consumer (benefiting from the least expensive electricity available and strengthening security of supply ) and the environment (benefit from electricity that emits the least CO₂).
France
