Paris (energate) - In terms of nuclear power, 2022 will remain a difficult year for the French state-owned company EDF. According to the company, in the first five months its in-house nuclear power production of 134 billion kWh was 15 per cent below that of the same period last year. According to an analysis by the BEE, this gap led to France importing massive amounts of electricity from Germany in the first half of the current year for the first time in a long time. For this purpose, the association analysed data from the Federal Network Agency on electricity import and export patterns between Germany and France.
While Germany always imported between 2 and just under 8 billion kWh from France in the first half of 2015 to 2021, the opposite was true in 2022: France purchased just under 2 billion kWh from Germany in the first six months of the current year. Current data from the transmission grid operator RTE from 5 June also fit into this picture. According to this, the group's nuclear power plants currently cover 55 per cent of the national electricity demand in France. At peak times and with good availability, however, this quota is up to 70 per cent. The BEE also blames this development on the early summer, which has been very hot in parts: "The above-average temperatures have caused the waters in France to warm up. As a result, numerous nuclear power plants in France had to reduce their output because they could no longer cool their reactors down far enough," the association concludes.
EDF: Summer could bring cooling water shortages
Fittingly, EDF recently admitted to media representatives that the expected heat and drought would probably lead to a reduction in nuclear power production due to a lack of cooling water. This is according to the Bloomberg information service. France experienced its first heat wave almost a fortnight ago in June. Regardless of the weather, the French state-owned company continues to struggle with technical problems that force large parts of the 56 French nuclear power plants to undergo overhauls for longer than originally planned. This in turn prompted the company to revise its production forecasts for nuclear power
(energate reports). /pa
