Never has France produced so little electricity since 1992, but the country has shown itself to be “resilient”: the manager of the electricity transmission network RTE on Thursday took stock of a year of all records, marked by historically low nuclear and hydraulic production. In the midst of a global gas crisis, fueled by fears of a supply disruption since the war in Ukraine and the closure of Russian gas pipelines, France also had to face an unprecedented electricity crisis in parallel in 2022.
Lowest level since 1992
Total electricity production has indeed collapsed to “its lowest level since 1992”, when France had nine million fewer inhabitants than today. Compared to 2021, this total production fell by 15%, mainly “due to the low nuclear and hydraulic production”, indicated RTE in a press release. Only 62.7% of electricity was of nuclear origin last year in the country, once morest 69% in 2021 and more than 70% previously in France.
The operator EDF has indeed accumulated the problems between the discovery of corrosion on pipes crucial for the safety of nuclear power plants and the delays in maintenance due to Covid. Result: in 2022, the average availability of the fleet of 56 reactors fell to 54% (compared to 73% over the period 2015-2019), threatening the country with power cuts in the middle of winter.
Never have so few terawatt hours of nuclear origin 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 its 430 TWh in 2005. However, France does not was also unable to count on electricity from the dams, which was adversely affected by exceptionally hot and dry weather. Another broken record: production has reached its “lowest level” since the 1976 drought, a drop of 20% compared to the 2014-2019 average.
Security of supply “guaranteed”, says RTE
Despite this unprecedented crisis since the oil shock of the 1970s, “France has shown its resilience and its security of supply has been guaranteed,” said Xavier Piechaczyk, chairman of the executive board of RTE, during a press conference. France, like its European neighbors, was lucky with a mild autumn and early winter which delayed the ignition of the radiators. In addition, the voluntary “mobilization” of individuals and businesses, called since October to sobriety by the government, “has played an important role”, even if certain energy-intensive industries have also eased off under the effect of soaring prices. of electricity, correlated with those of gas.
The country therefore avoided the black scenario of cuts at the end of the year, thanks also to electricity imports and the increase in the nuclear fleet in the fall. Compared to historical average values (2014-2019), consumption in 2022 fell by 4.2% to 459.3 TWh, and even by 9% in the last quarter. As production fell more than consumption, France had to compensate by running its gas-fired power stations and importing electricity from its neighbours, without being able to export as much as before.
Consequence: France has become a net importer of electricity in 2022, unheard of since 1980 according to RTE. But unlike others, the country has not signed the great comeback of coal, which only weighed up to 0.6% in the production “mix”. “We can say that the exit from coal is almost effective in France”, summarized Maïté Jaureguy-Naudin, director of statistics and data valuation.
Significant electricity production from gas
It is different for electricity production from gas, which has gone so far as to take the place of wind power behind nuclear and hydraulic power in 2022. This use of gas, especially fossil fuel in France, explains “the cost environment of the energy crisis”. Electricity production is responsible for 25 million tonnes of CO2, compared to 21.5 in 2021, according to RTE.
The year will also be one of progress in the energy transition with the commissioning of 5 gigawatts of renewable installations, another record broken according to RTE. The electricity produced in France in 2022 remained 87% carbon-free, compared to around 91% over the 2014-2021 period. But RTE warns: “acceleration is still essential”.
