Decree No. 2024-789 of 10 July 2024 amending the regulatory part of the French Energy Code on regional schemes for grid connection of renewable energies provides that the S3REnR schemes be revised within 18 months from the date of publication of the said decree. In this context, RTE plans to launch the revisions of the regional schemes for grid connection of renewable energies (S3REnR) of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Centre Val de Loire, Ile de France and Normandie regions during the first half of 2025. These revisions will be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the abovementioned decree.

Professional organisations of electricity generators play a central role in the smooth running of the revision process for the continuous improvement of adequacy between grid planning and connection needs, particularly in this period of changeover to the new S3REnR system (following the abovementioned decree), during which the revisions will be carried out in parallel with consultations in the power transmission system users' committee (Comité des Clients Utilisateurs du Réseau de Transport d'Electricité CURTE), and in the distribution system users' committee (Comité des Clients Utilisateurs du Réseau de Distribution d'Electricité CURDE). The aim of these consultations is to set out the provisions of the abovementioned decree in the technical reference documents of the system operators.

Dematerialised census campaigns for the evaluation of RE generation facilities.

In accordance with Articles D. 321-11 and D. 321-17 of the French Energy Code, in their amended form based on the abovementioned decree, the public transmission and distribution system operators assess the total capacity of electricity generation installations from renewable energy sources to be connected in future schemes over a period of 10 to 15 years, i.e. RE generation facilities (all primary energy and connection voltage range) in the regions concerned. 

For the purposes of that assessment, Article D. 321-17 provides, in particular, for a census campaign to be held during which generators declare their electricity generation installation forecasts from renewable energy sources  with a capacity greater than 250 kilovolt-amperes that have not yet entered the queue. The reporting period duration must be at least three months.
These census campaigns are a required step before the  actual launch of the associated scheme revisions, for which stakeholders will be informed in accordance with amended D 321-11.

Scope and organisation of census campaigns

RTE wishes to remind parties that in addition to electricity generation installations using solar and wind energy, the census campaign also focuses on those using hydropower and energy from biomass, including installations producing all or part of their electricity from the biodegradable fraction of waste , for which the amended Article D. 321-10 of the French Energy Code stipulates that their connection falls under the S3REnR system for all their connection capacity.

The contribution of professional organisations of electricity generators is essential for this census campaign and for analysing the resulting RE facilities, taking into account the estimates of the total capacity of installations generating electricity from renewable energy sources capable of being connected at low voltage, to be provided by the distribution system operators.

It should be noted that this contribution will be facilitated if the generators concerned by the census campaign authorise RTE to share the data on their generation facility forecasts to the professional organisation to which they are affiliated, within the data protection and privacy framework provided for this purpose .

 Right of priority to HV-B

RTE specifies that this campaign will be essential to determine the connection requests to the public transmission system of electricity generation facilities from renewable energy sources that will be able to benefit from the reserved capacities of the future revised scheme, in the first twelve months following its date of entry into force, in application of the new Article D. 342-22-4 resulting from the abovementioned decree (“the right of priority to HV-B”).

 
Organisation of census campaigns

We wish to inform you that the census campaigns for the Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Centre Val de Loire regions are open and will be held until:

Up to 30 December 2024 at 5:00PM for Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Bourgogne Franche Comté
Up to february 17th 2025 at 5:00PM for Centre Val de Loire

For the Ile de France and Normandy regions, the census campaigns will run from:

16/10/2024 to 16/01/2025 at 5:00PM 

They require the project leaders concerned to use the service for viewing and reporting RE project forecasts accessible from the RTE Service Portal by following the link below, which also provides the information for requesting access: 

Declare and view RE project forecasts - RTE Service Portal (services-rte.com)

This service is free of charge. To request access to the service, obtain a user guide, or in case of any issues, project leaders may email: rte-fc-acces-declaration-gisements-enr@rte-france.com

For each RE electricity generation installation forecast located in one of the abovementioned regions or less than 15 km from its borders, the project leader is required to record or update the following information: 

• The primary energy source used; 
• Estimated power; 
• Geographical location, stating the INSEE code of the municipality or GPS coordinates; 
• The estimated date for commissioning of the installation

The project leader will also provide the connection voltage range for the installation if it is already known, paying close attention to consistency with the power provided by the project leader.

As mentioned above, the final rules for reporting on the service for viewing and reporting RE project forecasts must be agreed in CURTE, especially concerning: 

•  The rules for reporting groupings of several generation facilities for connection to the public transmission system, in particular within the framework of a group of generators  ; 
•  the date of the last update from which a generation facility forecast will not be taken into account in the construction of RE generation facilities as considered obsolete.

 In the meantime, for this census campaign, RTE requires: 

• thinking in terms of the perimeter of the future applicant for connection and indicating an HV-B connection voltage domain in the case of groupings of several generation facilities likely to make a connection request to the public transmission system. 
• declaring that its generation facility forecast portfolio is correctly updated during the period of the announced census campaign. If the last update date of a generation facility forecast is prior to 30 June 30 2024, it will not be taken into account in the preliminary assessment of the total power to be connected.

September 30, 2024