The year 2022 will remain a special episode in the recent history of French electricity. In its electricity report from the previous year, the operator of the electric power transmission system (RTE) returned this morning in detail to the different factors that made 2022 a special year. First of all, you need to set the scene. France is facing “a crisis without precedent since the oil crises of the 1970s”, according to the president of the board of directors of RTE, Xavier Piechaczyk, who evokes a “triple crisis”.
First of all, the gas crisis started in 2021, it increased prices but did not create shortages. Then the crisis in hydroelectric production plunged it to its lowest level since 1976 due to extremely dry weather conditions. Finally, the nuclear park crisis manifested itself with the lowest availability since 1984, particularly in the summer of 2022, due in particular to the phenomenon of stress corrosion cracking (SCC).
Electricity consumption fell by 1.7% compared to 2021
BFM Business has mentioned it regularly in recent weeks and months and the phenomenon is also observed on an annual scale: electricity consumption fell by 1.7% between 2021 and 2022, from 467 TWh to 459 TWh. But the executive director in charge of RTE’s Strategy, Forecasting and Evaluation division insists on the need to look at longer-term developments. In 2014 and 2019, annual consumption was 20 TWh higher than in 2022. Even in 2020, a year marked by numerous restrictions linked to the pandemic, the French consumed more electricity than last year.
In the last quarter alone, France achieved a drop in consumption of around 9% compared to the period 2014-2019. This drop affected all sectors, although it was observed first in industry, the sector most exposed to price variations, headed by chemicals, metallurgy and steel. However, households, which are the first consumers in France, quickly contributed to this reduction in consumption motivated by economic factors but also by the effects of the government’s awareness campaigns.
Looking back 30 years for nuclear power
Regarding electricity production, it has been drastically reduced, around 15%, going from 522 TWh in 2021 to 445 TWh in 2022 due to the lack of availability of nuclear but also hydraulic plants. We have to go back to 1992 to find such a low level of production in France. And not surprisingly, the proportion of nuclear reactors in service fell from 73% to 54% between the period 2015-2019 and 2022 with a record low of 21.7 GW on August 28, the date on which two thirds of the fleet were in operation. End of the process.
“Structurally, many reactor shutdowns were planned during the year between maintenance work, decennial inspections, and then CSC was added,” explains Thomas Veyrenc. fall.”
A 20% drop in hydraulics
This lower availability of the nuclear park has caused half-mast nuclear production to plummet from 361 TWh to 279 TWh between 2021 and 2022, registering its lowest level since 1988. Regarding annual nuclear production, it has been around 402 TWh on average in the last 20 years, the decrease is 30%. Likewise, nuclear generation represented less than 63% of the French mix compared to 69% in 2021.
The nuclear component was not the only one at half mast in 2022 as hydraulic production also reached its lowest level in 1976 due to exceptional weather conditions. “The months of May and October were the hottest since 1900, while the summer of 2022 was the hottest since 2003,” says Maïté Jaureguy-Naudin, RTE’s Director of Statistics and Data Assessment.
Hydraulic production went from an annual average of 61.6 TWh between 2014 and 2019 to 49.6 TWh in 2022, that is, a drop of around 20%. “The high mountain power plants are the ones that have registered the most significant falls”, specifies Maïté Jaureguy-Naudin.
Advances in renewable energy
The year 2022 also marked a record in the volume of commissioning of renewable installations, since an additional 5 GW were connected last year. In detail, the onshore wind farm grew 1.9 GW while the increase in the solar park remained at a high rate with an increase of 2.6 GW. In this regard, the commissioning of the first French offshore wind farm in Saint-Nazaire, with a capacity of 480 MW, was one of the highlights.
In detail, wind generation increased by 0.7 TWh to 37.5 TWh despite a year with little wind. For its part, solar production is increasing and now contributes significantly to France’s electricity balance with an increase of 30% between 2021 and 2022 to reach 18.6 TWh. “It was favored by the good insolation conditions as well as by the increase in the size of the park,” says RTE.
Maïté Jaureguy-Naudin sets the course: develop 4.4 GW of solar production and 3.5 GW of wind production in 2023.
Return of gas to the podium of production sources
In summary, the electricity produced remained 87% carbon free compared to around 91% during the period 2014-2021. But at the same time, gas has once again become the third source of electricity production, ahead of wind power. “The operation of gas power plants has increased considerably (more than 44 TWh in 2022 compared to less than 33 TWh in 2021) because hydroelectric and nuclear power were at a low point”, explains Xavier Piechaczyk.
As for coal, it has become marginal in terms of the volume of electricity production in France, since its share in the mix was only 0.6%. However, the public authorities had taken specific measures in anticipation of the announced winter under special vigilance. Among these measures, the expansion of the activity of the Saint-Avold power plant and the raising of the authorized operating duration thresholds.
As a result, greenhouse gas emissions from electricity production have increased, but in a contained manner. “The electricity produced in France continues to be among the most carbon-free in Europe (third behind Sweden and Finland), reports RTE, adding that this observation holds true taking imports into account. This volume of emissions is still well below the from other comparable countries (about 10 times more in Germany, for example, in 2022).”
Significantly more expensive electricity than usual
In a context of lower electricity production, in 2022 France was a net importer of electricity for the first time since 1980, its export balance going from a surplus of 43.3 TWh to a deficit of 16.5 TWh. France was an importer throughout the year except for February and May. “Most of the imports occurred during the summer, when France is traditionally a strong exporter there: only the months of July, August and September represent 60% of the negative balance, that is, 10 TWh of imports”, specifies the electric transmission operator. grid.
These imports have contributed to the deterioration of the French energy bill, which has reached 115,000 million euros, of which 7% is attributable to imported electricity, while general electricity traditionally reduces this same bill. However, RTE points out that the increase in the energy bill is mainly driven by imports of fossil fuels due to the rise in prices and the increased use of imported liquefied natural gas in substitution of Russian gas.
Leftovers from last summer’s price hike?
One of the main lessons of 2022 is also that the energy crisis has caused prices to rise. The average spot price went from 109 euros per MWh in 2021 to 276 euros per MWh in 2022. “They reached record levels in France during the summer (612 euros/MWh on average in the week of August 22) due to the nuclear and hydraulic decline production, mentions RTE Prices returned to lower levels from September, remaining at high levels compared to previous years.
Regarding the futures markets, the prices registered in the summer of 2022 for delivery in the winter of 2022-2023 were higher than those of neighboring countries: they stood at an average of 90 euros per MWh in August 2021 compared to 1,200 euros per MWh a. year later. “This reflects a particularly disproportionate risk premium compared to the actual risks of stress on the supply-demand balance, even in very pessimistic scenarios, says Thomas Veyrenc. This over-hedging phenomenon gradually disappeared over the winter.” If the situation has been partially resolved, Xavier Piechaczyk predicts that it will still have repercussions.
Source: BFM TV
