New needs and new ways to meet them

As part of national and European guidelines to combat greenhouse gas emissions, many industrial players have recently launched decarbonisation projects. Many of these projects are highly electricity-intensive: they may involve modification of existing industrial facilities to enable electrification, high-power hydrogen electrolysers, or new industrial installations for decarbonisation of energy uses (e-fuel production, battery gigafactories or photovoltaic panels, etc.). 

Simultaneously, requests from data centres for connection to the public transmission network are growing significantly. These requests are generally very concentrated in geographically limited areas, explained by the need to be close to major optical hubs on one hand, and to users on the other hand. This frequently leads data centres to be located in peri-urban areas, mainly in Ile-de-France region or the Marseille metropolitan area.

To support these new needs, connection solutions must evolve, shifting from a project-by-project approach to a logic of anticipation and pooling on a geographically limited area. The aim is to prepare the transmission grid for the electrification of industrial areas and the massive arrival of data centres by building new high-capacity electrical infrastructures capable of accommodating several manufacturers, while managing the cost, timelines and environmental impact of these connections. 

The renewable energy acceleration law no. 2023-175 (known as the “APER law”), adopted on March 10 , 2023, has introduced new provisions (Articles L.342-2 and L.342-18 of the Energy Code) to meet these needs and objectives. Concerning the pooling of the connections to the public transmission system, it provides that the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) may authorise RTE (I) to size electrical connection infrastructure to enable the simultaneous or subsequent connection of several facilities and (ii) to share the cost equitably among the beneficiaries by applying a pro-rata share.

Decree n° 2024-524 of June 7, 2024, as well as the CRE’s framework deliberation n°2024-200 specify certain elements of this pooling framework. 
In order to inform its customers and in accordance with the abovementioned decree, RTE is providing an interactive map, accessible via this link, allowing to view:
-    All pooling areas under study or approved by the CRE, and the key information about each.
-    A detailed view of each area, outlining its perimeter, and for the areas approved by the CRE presenting the pooled infrastructure to be built and the potential installations to be reinforced, and the progress of the associated works.

December 16, 2024