Several French nuclear plants still not generating

France is currently experiencing the ramifications of its lowest level of nuclear power output in the last ten years, with over 20% of its nuclear plants offline for safety tests and maintenance. At the time of writing 13 of the country’s 58 plants were offline, although this is expected to fall to nine plants in January.

The nuclear outages are a potential problem for electricity supplies in France, and also in neighbouring states in a European power system that is increasingly interconnected. 

The European Network of Transmission System Operators, ENTSO-E, said that the situation could lead to a ‘tense situation’ in the event of a severe cold wave in Europe this winter. It said that the situation could affect France’s neighbouring countries, but that its calculations indicated that, in normal and even severe conditions, Europe should be able to cover demand.

Both RTE, the French transmission system operator (TSO) and Elia, the Belgian TSO, are engaging with neighbouring TSOs and are planning to use generation reserves and industrial demand reduction to mitigate the problem if needed.

The nuclear plants in France have been closed due to a combination of safety checks around potentially faulty reactor parts, as well as routine maintenance. The situation meant the UK exported electricity to France for the first time in four years in November (something it is also currently doing at the time of writing), and France is relying more on coal to provide power for its citizens. 

Added to this, four cables in the 30-year old IFA interconnector between France and the UK were damaged by Storm Angus on 20 November, adding to concerns that security of supply in the UK could be affected. The damage means the capacity of the interconnector has been halved – from
2 to 1 GW – and it is not expected to be fixed until February. 

UK transmission system representatives from both Ofgem and National Grid said at an Energy Institute policy debate in December that they were not concerned about the lights going out and the situation was manageable, but it could lead to a greater level of electricity price spikes this winter. 

Price spikes throughout Europe were the norm from early November as the French outages squeezed supply margins. Natural gas prices also responded as combined cycle gas plants ramped up to take advantage of the rising prices, according to data from S&P Global Platts. Day-ahead baseload power prices in connected markets Belgium, Spain and the UK increased significantly increased due to the lack of relatively cheap French imports.