the rise in nuclear production allows France to once again be the leading exporting country in Europe

2024-01-18 08:42:29

France regains its electric blue jersey. With 50.1 terawatt hours (TWh), it has regained, according to data communicated Wednesday by the analysis firm S&P Global Commodity Insights and revealed the day before by Les Echos, its position as the leading exporter of electricity which was held by Sweden in 2022, ahead of Norway.

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These two countries, regularly at the top of the ranking thanks to their abundant hydroelectric production, achieved 28.6 TWh and 17.3 TWh of net exports respectively. Spain, which relies on solar and wind energy, is fourth with 13.9 TWh of net exports.

Beneficial effects for the trade balance

A record was even broken by France on Friday December 22. It reached some 18,680 megawatts (MW), compared to 17,415 MW, during the previous record established on February 22, 2019. This electricity was exported to the United Kingdom (3 GW), Germany and the Benelux (5.4 GW ), Switzerland (3.2 GW), Italy (4.4 GW) and Spain (2.6 GW). RTE, the network manager, then highlighted production costs “ competitive “, given that ” the availability of all our means of production, particularly nuclear », increased compared to last year.

Placed in 2022 in an unprecedented situation due to corrosion problems detected on several nuclear reactors, France had to import electricity last year, which had not happened for 42 years. This new record demonstrates the markets’ appetite for export capacities », noted RTE, which highlighted the beneficial effects for the French trade balance.

Nuclear and hydroelectric power production has recovered

Placed in 2022 in an unprecedented situation due to corrosion problems detected at the end of 2021 on several nuclear reactors, France had been a net importer of electricity for almost the entire year, which had not happened for 42 years . Since then, nuclear and hydroelectric electricity production, dominated by the historic operator EDF, has recovered.

Concerning nuclear power, “ the cumulative annual production stands at 320.4 TWh, 41.4 TWh higher than that of 2022, in particular thanks to the optimization and control of stress corrosion worksites, » said EDF on Tuesday in an information note published on its website. The increase amounts to 14.8% compared to production for the year 2022, which fell to a historically low level since 1988, at 279 TWh. EDF plans to produce “ in the range 315-345 TWh for 2024 and 335-365 TWh for 2025 » according to its latest forecasts, which remains far from its 430 TWh in 2005, prosperous years.

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