French transmission network development plan 2019 EDITION MAIN RESULTS - ENGLISH VERSION FRENCH TRANSMISSION NETWORK DEVELOPMENT PLAN I 2019 EDITION 1 French transmission network development plan 2019 EDITION MAIN RESULTS 4 SUMMARY 7 1. Aims 8 1.1 Transforming the networks is essential if we are to successfully deliver the energy transition 10 1.2 The electricity transmission grid: obvious, but poorly understood 19 1.3 A network which “ensures stewardship”, but the evolution of which is subject to long procedures and challenges to do with acceptability in the eyes of local residents 21 2. A new network planning document 22 2.1 A new expanded and rethought network plan to inform the debate about the energy transition 24 2.2 A transformation plan for the network to succeed in delivering the multi-annual energy programme 29 3. Solutions to all challenges that the evolution of the electricity grid brings 30 3.1 From a societal and environmental perspective 37 3.2 From an industrial perspective 46 3.3 From an economic perspective FRENCH TRANSMISSION NETWORK DEVELOPMENT PLAN I 2019 EDITION 5 6 AIMS FRENCH TRANSMISSION NETWORK DEVELOPMENT PLAN I 2019 EDITION 7 AIMS 1.1 Transforming the networks is essential if we are to successfully deliver the energy transition France is fully engaged in the energy transition. The made to the network. In the overall energy transition draft energy-climate law currently being considered equation, the networks have a major role to play. by the French Parliament has committed the country to being carbon neutral by 2050. These networks are going to have to evolve – and very quickly – if the energy transition is to be possible. The This aim is underpinned by the national low-carbon industrial impetus behind this evolution and the way strategy (stratégie nationale bas carbone, or SNBC), in which it is funded will need to be gauged over the which sets forth trajectories for various sectors long term. Several years of preliminary technical and (housing, energy, agriculture, transport, etc.) until economic studies are vital in order to create a new piece 2050, detailing the strategies that need to be adopted of infrastructure. A regulatory investigation is then if we are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The required (numerous permits are needed, granted under energy policy aims form part of the multi-annual urban development, environmental and sectoral energy energy programme (programmation pluriannuelle de policy law), together with a dialogue process with the l’énergie, or PPE), which defines the ways in which relevant stakeholders lasting several years (depending energy production, transport and consumption will on how complex the project is). Some infrastructure need to change in France over the next 10 to 15 years. can operate for up to 85 years once the building work is complete and it has been brought into service – provided These various documents are in the draft phase. it is appropriately maintained on a regular basis. However, the fundamental decisions underpinning them were clarified by the French government back in 2017. This transformation needs to happen in a societal context in which results need to be delivered quickly, As far as the electricity sector is concerned, they are and in which there is systematic opposition – even when based on dramatically developing renewable energies this infrastructure is vital for the energy transition. (onshore and offshore wind power and photovoltaic solar energy in particular), closing the last coal-fired It is now widely accepted that two factors play power plants between now and 2022, gradually a key role in enabling renewable energies to be reducing the country’s nuclear capacity (closing the rapidly deployed: regulatory stability and thought two Fessenheim reactors in 2020, followed by a dozen given beforehand to the way in which they can be or so others between 2025 and 2035) and a policy of integrated into electricity grids. stepping up the use of (significantly decarbonised) electricity in the mobility, construction and industrial RTE’s new “schéma décennal de développement du sectors, as well as in hydrogen production. réseau1” (or SDDR) is the French transmission network development plan. It has has been published at a key This is a transformation on a massive scale. In terms moment. It sets forth a proposal for the way in which of how wide-ranging it is, it can be compared to the the transmission system should evolve over the next expansion of France’s nuclear power fleet after the 15 years in order to meet public targets, highlighting second oil crisis, which involved making significant the challenges and possible margins for manoeuvre, changes to its energy supply systems in a very short as well as the areas in which there needs to be period of time. coherence. It serves as an operational interpretation of the draft multi-annual energy programme and may Although public debate regarding the electricity change, depending on the end documents (the energy sector has largely focused on generation sources, law, the national low-carbon strategy and the multi- its operational reality involves creating a premium- annual energy programme) and opinions formulated quality network industry: one in which all generation about the draft SDDR (by the ministry, the French sources and consumption sites are interconnected energy regulator and the Environmental authority). on a permanent basis, with a requirement for It lists the existing levers that need to be actioned instantaneous balancing that does not exist in any in order to ensure that the networks do not end up other industry. And any changes to the mix involve a constituting an insuperable obstacle to the energy connection being created, and perhaps changes being transition, but instead end up facilitating it. 1. Literally : ten-year network development plan 8 AIMS 1 Figure 1. Changes in the power mix and network since 1980 1980 2000 2020 2035 Final energy consumption Electricity Gas Oil Coal Renewables, waste, heat 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 Energy 1,500 1,500 1,500 efficiency, 1,500 Development decarbonisation Stabilisation of electricity and transfer 1,000 1,000 of consumption 1,000 1,000 TW TW TW uses TW to electricity 500 500 500 500 0 0 0 0 Electricity: 210 TWh Electricity: 380 TWh Electricity: 430 TWh Electricity: 460 TWh 14% of total consumption 23% of total consumption 27% of total consumption 37% of total consumption (source: national low-carbon strategy) Power generation Renewables excl. hydraulic Gas Fuel oil Coal Hydraulic Nuclear 700 700 700 700 Development 600 600 600 Acceleration in 600 Development of of combined the development 500 500 500 500 the electro-nuclear cycle gas-fired of renewables and 400 programme 400 power plants and 400 diversification of 400 renewables TW 300 TW 300 TW 300 the power mix TW 300 200 200 200 200 100 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 Total: 250 TWh Total: 520 TWh Total: 550 TWh Total: 640 TWh (source: multi-annual energy programme) Network 400 kV line 225 kV line Development of Development of interconnections the 400 kV network and securing of “electrical peninsulas” ? 83,000 km of lines, of which: 97,000 km of lines, of which: 106,000 km of lines, of which: 9,000 km of 400 kV lines 21,000 km of 400 kV lines 22,000 km of 400 kV lines 24,000 km of 225 kV lines 25,000 km of 225 kV lines 27,000 km of 225 kV lines 49,000 km of 63-90-150 kV lines 51,000 km of 63-90-150 kV lines 57,000 km of 63-90-150 kV lines FRENCH TRANSMISSION NETWORK DEVELOPMENT PLAN I 2019 EDITION 9 AIMS 1.2 The electricity transmission grid: obvious, but poorly understood What the power transmission system is may seem everyday lives, and very few people remember obvious. that 50 years ago, supplying electricity to the whole country was still a challenge. Many people think of the extra-high voltage power line pylons which supply electricity across the But in reality, the transmission grid is something country when they hear it mentioned. Others think that is poorly understood. At a time when it of control centres, which monitor the electricity needs to undergo a major transformation if it is supply at all locations throughout France and at all to meet the needs of an energy policy that caters times – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For everyone, to the challenges of climate change, we should it is something taken for granted: electricity has remind ourselves of what it does and what its never been so present and so important in our characteristics are. Infrastructure for transferring large quantities of energy from where it is generated to where it is consumed… The confusion lies in just seeing the counterpart – power plants and major hydraulic dams): an for electricity – of motorways or the major lines of example of electricity flows over the 400 kV the railway network. network in the winter is provided opposite (figure 2.1); The electricity power grid is effectively a linear u the subtransmission networks, made up of physical infrastructure that transports high-voltage part of the 225 kV network and lower-voltage electricity over great distances, interconnects infrastructure (mainly 63 kV and 90 kV). These European countries and directly connects up the provide supra-regional and regional coverage largest power generation assets (nuclear power and deliver power to territories at local level. plants, hydraulic dams, major ground-mounted solar power plants and ultimately offshore The transmission system is operated in a wind farms), as well as the largest (industrial) coordinated way: the example given of the way in consumers and “pockets” of local consumption.