The French electricity system needs 33 billion euros of investments over 15 years to modernize and digitize, create interconnections with neighboring countries or develop renewable energies, said Tuesday its RTE manager.
The manager of the high-voltage network presented his ten-year plan for the evolution of the French electricity grid, by 2035, which it submits to the government as well as to the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) and to the Environmental Authority. Its plan identifies several projects: renovation of the aging network, accelerated digitization, exchange capacity with neighboring countries doubled over 15 years or deployment of an offshore electricity network to connect future offshore wind farms.
A budget financed by the consumer bill
"The associated investments are estimated at 33 billion euros over 15 years, or about 2 billion euros per year" against 1.3 billion euros today, says RTE. Of the 33 billion identified, 13 billion relate to the adaptation of the network, 8 billion the renewal of the oldest works, 7 billion the connection of marine energy, 3 billion the digital and 2 billion for cross-border interconnections (share France).
These sums must be financed in part by the electricity bills via the "tariff of use of the public electricity networks" (Turpe). "Seen from the end consumer, the impact of these additional investment needs will be mitigated," said however RTE in its document, highlighting the long periods of amortization of projects and low interest rates to finance them.