Germany and France agree to help each other to “guarantee their energy supply.” At a time when prices are skyrocketing, the two heads of government, Elisabeth Borne and Olaf Scholz, signed a “mutual support” agreement in Berlin on Friday.
“Concrete measures” in particular are planned for France to help Germany reduce its dependence on Russian gas through gas deliveries. Germany, for its part, will support France to “secure its electricity supply during the winter,” according to a joint statement signed by Elisabeth Borne and Olaf Scholz.
France is for the first time in 42 years a net importer of electricity, due to the lower level of nuclear electricity production. Since 1981, France has always been a net exporter of electricity to its neighbors, in particular thanks to its nuclear power plants that cover more than 60% of French electricity production.
Almost half of the French nuclear fleet is unavailable
But since January, France has imported more electricity than it has exported because almost half of its nuclear fleet is unavailable due to corrosion problems or scheduled, sometimes lengthy maintenance. The level of supply should allow France to get through the month of December without any problem, but for January there is a risk of cuts in the event of extreme cold, if consumption does not drop.
The agreement signed with Berlin thus formalizes an effort already launched since mid-November by Germany consisting of “maximizing as much as possible the interconnection capacity made available to the market”, according to the text of the agreement.
In addition, Germany “commits to postpone the phase-out of the remaining nuclear power plants until mid-April 2023 in order to provide additional electricity exchange volumes to France”, and to “mobilize the entire market and reserve production capacities (…) maximize electricity flows to France”.
Germany is heavily dependent on Russian gas
For Germany too, the turning point is historic because the country was heavily dependent on gas from Russia and must diversify its supplies by turning to the West.
Since mid-October, France has ordered new export capacity from Germany “up to 100 GWh/day,” according to the agreement. The gas that it will import from France will be imported mainly into France, in particular by sea.
France has four fixed liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals while Germany has none, and plans to have an additional floating LNG terminal in Le Havre “in the winter of 2023/24,” the agreement recalls.
Germany is also installing floating LNG terminals, two this winter in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel, and another three “by the end of 2023.”
Source: BFM TV
