UK Edition
France has become Europe’s top energy exporter amid a surge in British demand after the country’s state-backed nuclear power operator finally fixed cracks in its ageing fleet of reactors.
The country’s total net exports stood at 17.6 TWh in the first six months of 2023, according to data analysis company Enappsys. This is roughly enough energy to power 5 million homes for a year.
Enappsys said most of this flowed to Italy and Britain, which were the two largest importers of energy in Europe over the same period.
Jean-Paul Harreman, director of EnAppSys, said: “The cause for the increase of exports in France versus the previous year was an increased availability of the country’s nuclear assets.”
Clement Bouilloux, Enappsys’ French territory manager, said the figures also suggest the UK, which imports around half its gas needs, remained one of the most vulnerable countries to another spike in prices.
Gas is also used to fuel around a third of the UK’s electricity generation, so rising gas prices usually lead to rising electricity prices. Mr Bouilloux said: “The UK is pretty dependent on outside gas and it’s quite expensive to produce electricity with gas power plants.”
It comes after France’s EDF was forced to shut down several of its nuclear power plants last year after discovering cracks and corrosion in some pipes used to cool reactor cores. The company expects nuclear output to be 20pc higher this year.
Mr Harreman said: “Although availability is still 10-15pc lower than normal, the increase in capacity of between 5 and 10 GW versus last year helped to flip the French energy balance to export again.”
High voltage cables buried under the seabed that connect the electricity systems of neighbouring countries enable excess power to be easily traded between countries. Exports and imports are largely driven by price.
Figures published by the department for Energy Security and Net Zero showed net electricity imports rose 44pc in the first three months of 2023 compared with the same period a year earlier as French electricity prices fell.
Enappsys said a surge in hydropower production in France due to heavy rain also boosted exports. Mr Harreman said: “As cheaper generation became available to the French market, it started exporting to the UK again. The price differential ensured that cheaper power flowed from France to Britain.”
The figures also showed Germany became a net energy importer in the first half of 2023 as the country’s last three nuclear power plants were finally shut down.
Germany first began using nuclear power in 1961. The country pushed through its first plan to phase out nuclear power in the early 2000s, and this was sped up after the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011. However, the decision has exacerbated the country’s energy crisis as it continues to wean itself off Russian energy.
Enappsys said: “The closure of nuclear power plants was the main reason why the energy balance flipped to imports. These closures meant that Germany had to source additional power from other countries in periods of low renewable generation.”