France had in 2022 never produced so little electricity since 1992, a declining record which is largely explained by the shutdown of many EDF nuclear reactors affected by problems of cracks, announced Thursday the operator of the electricity transmission network RTE in its annual report. “Total electricity production is at its lowest level since 1992, due to weak nuclear and hydraulic production,” RTE said in a statement.
Only 62.7% of electricity was of nuclear origin last year, compared to 69% in 2021 and more than 70% previously in France, which historically relies on its nuclear fleet to supply current. In absolute terms, never so few terawatt hours of nuclear origin had been produced since 1988, before the end of the construction of the nuclear fleet, i.e. a production of 279 TWh in 2022, far from the time when France produced 430 TWh as in 2005.
“France has shown its resilience”
Despite an unprecedented energy crisis since the oil shock of the 1970s, against a backdrop of supply tensions linked to the war in Ukraine, “France has shown its resilience and its security of supply has been guaranteed”, declared during the a press conference Xavier Piechaczyk, Chairman of the Board of RTE.
France has thus avoided the black scenario of power cuts in the heart of winter, thanks to electricity imports and the increase in the nuclear fleet at the end of the year, combined with a drop in national electricity consumption by households and businesses. Compared to historical average values (2014-2019), consumption for the year 2022 fell by 4.2% in 2022, a drop mainly concentrated in the last quarter.