France is Europe’s top power exporter as Germany turns importer

France has overtaken Sweden to become Europe’s top net power exporter, while Germany has moved from exporter to importer during the first half of this year. 

France’s total net exports amounted to 17.6 terawatt-hours, with most of the power flowing to Great Britain and Italy, according to a report from EnAppSys Ltd. that laid out imports and exports.  

French nuclear output is a cornerstone for Europe’s electricity market, even though it’s hovering around 50% of capacity. Its nuclear stations continue to be crucial to the market despite outages and high output from renewable sources such as solar, which has been highly productive as heatwaves have ripped through many parts of southern Europe this summer. 

The increased exports from the nation were due to “an increased availability of the country’s nuclear assets,” EnAppSys director Jean-Paul Harreman said in an emailed statement. “Although availability is still 10-15% lower than normal, the increase in capacity of between 5 and 10 GW versus last year helped to flip the French energy balance to export again.”

While Sweden slipped to second place, Spain overtook Germany to become Europe’s third-highest net exporter with total net outflows of 8.8 terawatt-hours, the report found. Spain, seared by extreme heat recently, has profited from increasing renewable generation as huge solar capacity has driven higher exports. Sweden’s exports stood at 14.6 terawatt-hours.

Germany’s closure of its nuclear power plants was the reason its “energy balance flipped to imports,” the report found.