https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF9kkB0UWYQ
When I still worked in #science in 2016/17 and was invited as a speaker to a #IEEE conference about #NDT the number one topic people ask me was "is germany really backing out of nuclear energy?".
This video shows the #problems caused by this decision (or maybe more because of the execution of it) and what other problems #Germany would need to face today if we would have stayed to #nuclear like #France.
#engineering #renewables #windenergy #nuclearenergy #atomkraft
Yes this seems to be true for now. However keep in mind, that the hot months are just beginning and have a high impact on the energy production of France.
Here are charts I found.
They are a bit difficult to read: Basically the width of the connection on a country determines the amount of energy they sent over the connection. So the connection from France to Switzerland which is much broader on the FR side says France exports more than it imports from Switzerland. For Spains the reverse is true as the connection is broader on the ES side.
To see the impact of hot months compare the charts for May and July-September of last year.
I think France will in average stay a net exporter for the next years, but in the trend they will shift to more importing as many of their nuclear reactors need maintenance or replacement and all of them are affected by climate change. The trend may of course change again due to changes in politics.
However, import/export stats usually just show where energy is cheapest. Of course it’s cheaper to use French excess nuclear energy than start a German gas/coal plant. Germany has more than enough (fossil) capacity on its own, however.
The 2022 situation in France is an outlier in this regard obviously, because it temporarily reduced French generation capacity below their needs. Also outliers: Countries like Italy and Hungary that never had enough generation capacity in the first place and do need to import rather than importing to reduce cost.
Hasn’t France gone back to being a net exporter since winter 2022?
Yes this seems to be true for now. However keep in mind, that the hot months are just beginning and have a high impact on the energy production of France.
Here are charts I found. They are a bit difficult to read: Basically the width of the connection on a country determines the amount of energy they sent over the connection. So the connection from France to Switzerland which is much broader on the FR side says France exports more than it imports from Switzerland. For Spains the reverse is true as the connection is broader on the ES side.
To see the impact of hot months compare the charts for May and July-September of last year.
I think France will in average stay a net exporter for the next years, but in the trend they will shift to more importing as many of their nuclear reactors need maintenance or replacement and all of them are affected by climate change. The trend may of course change again due to changes in politics.
That is true.[Édith: apparently not!‽]However, import/export stats usually just show where energy is cheapest. Of course it’s cheaper to use French excess nuclear energy than start a German gas/coal plant. Germany has more than enough (fossil) capacity on its own, however.
The 2022 situation in France is an outlier in this regard obviously, because it temporarily reduced French generation capacity below their needs. Also outliers: Countries like Italy and Hungary that never had enough generation capacity in the first place and do need to import rather than importing to reduce cost.
Not really