The capacity mechanism was established by the NOME Act of 2010 to ensure France’s security of electricity supply within the framework of the European market. Following a long consultation and thorough investigation by the national and community authorities, it was implemented from 2017. The mechanism is defined by several laws (now codified in Articles L.335-1 to L. 335-7 of the French Energy Code) and has been an operational reality for all market players since its introduction.

Wherever this type of scheme has been implemented, there has been intense debate about its necessity, its proportionality and its effectiveness. Capacity mechanisms are relatively new schemes that complement energy markets by achieving specific public-policy objectives. Their existence depends on these objectives and it is logical for them to evolve. In France, once the capacity mechanism was implemented, a review clause was included in the regulatory framework, based on a full feedback of experience to assess the mechanism’s concrete functioning and its performance after the first few years of operation.

After four years of the capacity mechanism’s operation and based on the findings of exercises covering the delivery years 2017 and 2018, RTE initiated at the start of 2020 a feedback of experience on the operation of the capacity mechanism, with the aim of drawing up a factual, objective and quantified observation on the mechanism’s operation since its launch and thus informing the debate on the French capacity mechanism both in terms of its design and its practical conditions for implementation.

RTE produced this report in 2 documents: a summary and a full document, which focus on sharing all of the analyses carried out and from which proposals have been put forward for guidelines for consultation on the evolution of the mechanism.

RTE is publishing the summary on the Service Portal today. The full report will be published in the next few days on the Service Portal.

August 04, 2021