French energy storage power generation

Global energy storage capacity was estimated to have reached 36,735MW by the end of 2022 and is forecasted to grow to 353,880MW by 2030. France had 90MW of capacity in 2022 and this is expected to rise to 359MW by 2030. Listed below are the five largest energy storage projects by capacity in France, according to GlobalData's power database.

Among them, the “ 100% renewable power mix” study (ADEME, 2015), and “ electricity mix development trajectories 2020-2060” (ADEME, 2018a) explicitly optimize the power system and study the role of renewables in the French energy transition. Our results in the previous fully-renewable power mix study were very close to those of these two studies.

These results contrast with those of Krakowski et al. (2016), where the least costly scenario for France is presented as being “business as usual”, and increasing the proportion of RES gradually increases the annualized cost of the power system by approximately 20% for an electricity mix with 80% of RES (€40bn/year).

While the French electricity sector is relatively decarbonized, the relative proportions of renewable energy resources and nuclear power is a highly debated topic. With 63GW of installed capacity by the end of 2019, nuclear power dominates the French electricity mix, accounting for 70.6% of net electricity production in 2018 (CGDD, 2019).

France is at the crossroads of the decision to retrofit existing power plants and invest in new nuclear power plants, or slowly decrease the proportion of nuclear power in favor of a renewables-dominated power mix (DNTE, 2013). In France, a wide range of prospective studies have been conducted by public authorities, companies and associations.

According to the latest quarterly report from the French energy regulator (CRE, 2019), 35% of a typical electricity bill (varying between €170 and €200/MWh e depending on the tariff chosen and consumption profile) represents electricity production, which costs between €59–€70/MWh e.