Electricity production from solar panels in France rose 15.4% to a record 1.4 terawatt hour (TWh) in June due to long sunny spells and increased generation capacity, said the RTE power systems operator.
French solar power capacity rose 9.5% year-on-year in June compared with last year as more solar production units were connected to the grid, RTE said in its monthly report on Wednesday.
Electricity output from wind turbines across France soared 36% to 1.9 TWh compared with June 2018, boosted by the passage of Hurricane Miguel during the month, RTE said.
Wind power generation reached 11.4 GW on Friday June 9 at 1900 local time, covering 27% of French electricity consumption.
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Over the weekend that followed, and coupled with lower consumption, total nuclear generation was lowered to 26.1 GW which was its lowest level in 15 years, RTE said.
Nuclear output, which accounts for around 75 percent of French power needs, slipped by 0.2% in June.
A lack of rainfall weighed on French hydropower supply which plunged 24% compared with the same month last year to 5.8 TWh.
RTE said French electricity consumption was stable at 32.6 TWh in June, although the highest peak consumption during a heatwave in 11 years was reached on June 27 at 58.7 GW.
It said that the French spot electricity price was the lowest in Europe during the month of June at 29.3 euros ($32.63) a megawatt hour (MWh) on average, down 8 euros compared with the previous month.
Report by Reuters
Photo by Zbynek Burival on Unsplash
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