France and Belgium announced on Friday the doubling of their electricity exchange capacity on their very high-voltage border lines, a nearly 10-year project and precious to get through a winter in which France should be left without electricity.
Created in 1974, this border interconnection, which runs 43 km, between Avelgem (Belgium) and Avelin, in France (north), will be able to supply 6 million homes and will be of “greater Franco-Belgian electrical solidarity, starting this winter “, according to the operators of the electricity transmission networks of France, RTE, and Belgium, Elia. This Friday they inaugurated, at the foot of the track in Tournai (Belgium), the reinforcement of this electrical interconnection whose power has doubled, going from 3 GW to 6 GW.
This project, started in 2011, “also contributes to the European decarbonisation objectives by facilitating the integration of renewable energies”, in particular wind energy from the North Sea, stressed Chris Peeters, CEO of Elia. Due to the unavailability of its nuclear fleet, “this winter, France will be to a large extent an importer of electricity” from its European neighbors, explained Xavier Piechaczyk, chairman of RTE’s board of directors.
mutual help
For the first time in 42 years, France will be a net importer of electricity this year from its Belgian neighbors, but also from Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, due to the lower level of nuclear electricity production, raising fears of a possible power shortage. . , especially in January.
France has some fifty interconnections on its borders, such as the Avelgem-Avelin one, commissioned in its new configuration a few weeks ago. The interconnection, whose work cost a total of 90 million euros in equal parts between the two managers, incorporates high-performance cables that allow more electricity to be transported, without the need to build new lines.
Source: BFM TV
