The Bay of Biscay project involves creating a new interconnection between France and Spain. Scheduled to go into service in 2025, it will boost exchange capacity between France and Spain to almost 5,000 MW. This new 370 km link will run from the substation in Cubnezais (near Bordeaux) to the one in Gatika (near Bilbao), and will be the first France-Spain interconnection that is partially underwater.

More information about this projecthere.

Power is supplied to Haute-Durance primarily via a single 150 kV line built in 1936. The region now finds itself in a vulnerable position, particularly when power demand peaks in winter. RTE has thus designed a programme divided into six projects. It involves creating a 225 kV network to replace the existing 150 kV network and upgrading the 63 kV network (undergrounding, reconstruction or strengthening) all while protecting the local environment. The programme is being carried out through 18 work projects that will be staggered over time until the last segment is completed in 2020.

France’s Multiannual Energy Programme calls for the installation of 3,000 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2023. Offshore development offers significant power generation potential given the country’s natural assets (11 million km² of water in its jurisdiction). The highest-potential areas are concentrated off the coasts of Normandy, Brittany and Pays de la Loire. The government has launched two tenders for the construction of offshore windfarms in these areas, followed by a third launched late in 2018 for one off the coast of Dunkirk. RTE is in charge of studies and connecting these farms to the grid. The solution being considered involves creating 225 kV double-circuit lines, starting out underwater between the windfarm connected to the offshore substation and the landing point and then running underground between the landing point and the 225 kV substation where they are earthed.

The sites selected through the first call for tenders have already been the subject of consultations with local stakeholders, government services and infrastructure operators to determine the best possible path for the lines from a technical, economic and environmental standpoint. Late in 2015, public inquiries were launched for the projects in the towns that will be affected by the future Fécamp, Courseulles-sur-Mer, Saint-Nazaire and Saint-Brieuc windfarms. Production is not scheduled to start at these sites until 2021.

Technological and digital innovations are creating opportunities to develop the public transmission network in new ways and meet the challenges posed by the energy transition. There is great uncertainty about trends in local consumption and generation, and the expansion of renewable energy production makes it necessary to manage variability.

RTE is taking these new challenges into account by integrating flexible solutions into the grid, for instance via automated peak shaving/generation capping. It is also experimenting with next-generation substations (click here for more information).

Conducted in cooperation with UK transmission system operator National Grid, the IFA2 project (construction of new France-England interconnection) is part of the plan to support the energy transition and enhance security of electricity supply in both countries.

The project involves creating a DC line around 225 km long between Tourbe, which is located south of Caen, and Fareham in England. Converter stations at both ends will transform the DC into AC so the line can be connected to the transmission grid. The future interconnector will have transmission capacity of 1 GW.

This project, which kicked off in the spring of 2015 in partnership with RTE’s Italian counterpart TERNA, involves building a new France-Italy interconnector connecting the substations at Grande-Ile (Sainte-Hélène du Lac) and Piossasco (Turin) via an underground DC line almost 190 km long. The new line will represent a bona fide technological feat and help increase mutual assistance possibilities in Europe by boosting exchange capacity between these two countries by 60%.

The new interconnection is expected to be commissioned in 2019.

The press kit for this project can be found here.