What the connection of the Flamanville EPR to the French electricity network will change

Barring any last-minute technical hazards, EDF must connect the Flamanville EPR reactor to the national electricity network this Friday, December 20.

17 years after the start of a project with multiple setbacks, the Flamanville EPR, in Manche, will (barring any last minute hazards) finally be connected to the French electricity network this Friday, December 20.

“The first coupling to the network of the Flamanville 3 EPR reactor is planned for December 20, 2024,” EDF announced on Wednesday.

Concretely, this means that the EPR will inject its first megawatts into the electricity lines. A first in France for 25 years and the start-up of nuclear reactor 2 at Civaux, in Vienne.

The most powerful reactor in France

Initiated on September 3, the start-up of the Flamanville EPR reactor marked the beginning of its gradual ramp-up and a testing phase. On Friday, it should in theory have reached 25% of its maximum power, the minimum threshold to be connected to the network.

The EPR, a new generation pressurized water reactor, is the 4th of this type installed in the world. It is also the 57th reactor in the French nuclear fleet, and the most powerful in the territory (1,600 MW). It would thus increase the power of the French nuclear fleet to 63 gigawatts (GW) compared to 61.4 until now. Ultimately, it should supply around two million homes with electricity.

In the meantime, its operation “will be marked by different power levels, until the summer of 2025, which will conclude the testing phase”, specifies EDF.

It will then operate at full power until 2026, before stopping for initial maintenance.

France, net exporter of electricity

With this new reactor, France will be better equipped to face energy crises like that of 2022, when EDF’s nuclear production fell to 279 TWh, its lowest level in 30 years, due to checks or repairs of reactors. This forced France to import electricity, a first in 42 years.

But since then, the situation has greatly improved: in 2024, EDF has twice revised its nuclear production forecast upwards, which should reach between 358 and 364 TWh, not counting the Flamanville EPR. France should also beat its electricity export record dating from 2002 by posting a net balance of 85 to 90 TWh exported this year, after 50 TWh in 2023.

France will therefore remain largely overcapacity. Enough to allow it to approach the electrification of uses with a little more serenity in the coming years. Even if for the moment, and since the energy crisis, electricity consumption is stagnating and still remains 6% lower than its average for the years 2014-2019, according to RTE.

Looking ahead to future EPR2s

The nuclear industry is also counting on the experience of the Flamanville EPR to avoid repeating the same mistakes during future projects, while Emmanuel Macron has decided to order six EPR2 reactors (and eight additional ones as an option) from EDF.

The start of the third unit of Flamanville is in fact 12 years behind the initial schedule due to numerous technical setbacks which caused the bill to explode, now estimated at 13.2 billion euros by EDF, or four times the estimate. initial of 3.3 billion.

Its connection nonetheless remains highly symbolic. For Christine Goubet-Milhau, president of the French Electricity Union (UFE), it marks “the beginning of a series to prepare for the period 2035-2050 since our nuclear fleet deserves to be renewed even if it is not “We must not forget the maintenance work on existing reactors.”

It remains to be seen whether the consumer will benefit from the capacities produced by this new reactor by benefiting from a reduction in the price of their electricity bill. Questioned by BFM Business on this point a few months ago, Nicolas Goldberg, energy expert at the Colombus Consulting firm, was cautious: “On the markets, this will inevitably move the cursor towards more available electricity therefore “It could have a downward impact on prices but it will also depend on many other factors such as the level of demand and the reaction of the markets.”