This is a new record. “The total valuation of French electricity exports has reached the unprecedented level of 5 billion euros (compared to 1 to 3 billion euros/year since 2000)”, said the high -voltage line manager, RTE, in A note published Wednesday evening. A figure that results from increased volumes despite the decline in prices.
Italy, the first importer
Gross electricity exports reached the record level of 101.3 terawatt hours (TWH) and the net balance exceeded the historic record of 2002 (76 TWh), reaching 89 TWh.
The amount of the trade balance, of 5 billion, is very close, even equal to the gross amount of exports, because the rare importance periods have benefited from abundant and inexpensive decarbon production among European neighbors. Among the first electricity importers “Made in France”, Italy is first position (32 %), followed by Germany (18 %) and Belgium (15 %).
A “very low gain compared to the cost of fuels”
“These records are just two years after 2022, during which the country had been net importer for the first time since 1980,” said the operator, a filial at 50.1 % EDF. Corrosion problems under constraint in nuclear power plants, in particular, had plunged production, due to checks or repairs to be carried out in many reactors.
“In 2024, the prices on the wholesale markets have continued their decline since the energy crisis of 2022”, recalls RTE: the Spot price (cash market) French annual was 58 euros/MWh (against 97 euros/MWh In 2023 and 276 euros/MWh in 2022, at the height of the energy crisis).
Despite this decrease, which mainly stems from “the abundance of low -car -cost low -carbon electricity production (in France and Europe)”, combined with consumption still set back, France, which has found production levels More in line with its standards, therefore released record recipes. However, a gain which remains “very low compared to the cost of importing fossil fuels to supply unleteer uses”, explains RTE: in 2024, imports of fossil fuels cost more than 64 billion euros.
The share of fossil fuels in the energy consumption of France is still around two thirds, a proportion that the country wishes to see 42 % fall in 2030, 30 % in 2035, and to zero in 2050.