France must accelerate its electricity production to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, according to RTE

France must accelerate its transition to electricity to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, otherwise it risks missing its decarbonization and reindustrialization goals, stresses the high-voltage network manager RTE in a report on Tuesday, December 9, which is expected to be closely scrutinized.

Amidst the ongoing debate on France's energy future, the guardian of the electrical balance reaffirms "the relevance of rapid electrification of the country to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels, improve its trade balance and enable its rapid decarbonization", according to its updated 2025 forecast.

France's decarbonization strategy aims to reduce the share of hydrocarbons (gas, oil, fuel oil, etc.) in energy consumption from 60% today to 30-35% by 2035, by replacing them with electricity in transport, industry, buildings, etc.

But the country is now "behind schedule" in the electrification dynamic, even though it "has the almost unique advantage in Europe of a particularly abundant electricity production that is already 95% decarbonized", thanks to renewables and especially nuclear power, which has historically been predominant in France.

As a result, the operator RTE, whose scenarios are intended to inform future political decisions, is adjusting France's electricity needs by 2035 downwards "by about 35 TWh" compared to its previous analysis dating from 2023.

France is thus currently tending to be on a so-called "slow" decarbonization trajectory in which it is not achieving its climate objectives and is seeing the share of manufacturing in its GDP decline.

In a second scenario presented by RTE, called "rapid" decarbonization, France sees itself achieving its climate and economic and industrial recovery objectives.

Both are lower than in 2023, with electricity consumption revised to 505 or 580 TWh in 2035 respectively.

The current situation of "slow" decarbonization is resulting in an episode of proven electrical overcapacity until 2027-2028.

To address this, the least expensive solution lies in accelerating the transition of transport, heating, and other equipment to electricity, which proves far more effective than slowing the pace of solar and wind power installations, as some politicians would prefer. This slowdown is a lever that must be "handled with proportion," at the risk of weakening these industrial sectors, Xavier Piechaczyk, CEO of RTE, explained to AFP.

This report "brings positive and encouraging news: thanks to its energy mix, France has a decarbonized, abundant and competitive electricity production", commented the Ministry of Industry and Energy, confirming that the government is working on "a complementary electrification strategy" to the highly anticipated energy roadmap for France (PPE decree).

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.