The fleet of gas-fired power plants in France is expected to be ready to support the electricity network this winter, with no particular issues expected for the French gas network, according to gas grid operators GRTgaz and TIGF.
Based on their provisional operating conditions and factoring in the network entry capacities and storage fill levels at the end of the injection campaign, the network operators are not anticipating any particular tension over the coming winter.
“In the event of a cold spell, the existing gas infrastructure should enable the suppliers to cover French consumption with an excess of 680 GWh/d, equivalent to an average daily output of 28 GW” they said.
Since the start of November 2016, “record levels of demand have been placed upon the gas-fired power plants" including combined cycle and cogeneration plants "to support the electricity network” they said, noting power in excess of 6.5 GW has been regularly required, with peaks in excess of 8.5 GW, and a level of 514 GWh of daily consumption on 7th November specifically.
“As we approach a tricky winter for the electricity network, the gas network is demonstrating its key role in the security and continuity of France’s energy supply” they said, adding that “on the one hand, it contributes to electricity production in order to meet requirements in periods of high demand, and on the other, it supplies gas heating networks which, by their very nature, do not increase the demand for electricity at peak times."
“This situation illustrates the key role of gas heating solutions” such as condensing boilers and gas micro-cogeneration “in reducing the climate sensitivity of the electrical network and thereby contributing to its balancing over the winter period” they stressed.
The two gas grid operators also said “that the optimum functioning of the gas network in winter is also dependent on optimised and diversified management of supplies by the gas suppliers, primarily in order to maintain sufficient withdrawal capacities throughout the winter.”
Moreover, they noted the introduction on 1 October 2015 of the European network balancing code of the gas network “has also encouraged the market’s actors to take greater responsibility.”