Welcome to Grid Brief! Here’s what we’re looking at today: the EU pressures France on renewables, FERC OKs NERC’s extreme winter reliability measures, and more.

EU Pressures France Against Nuclear

The European Union is leaning on France to commit to producing 44% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030. Currently, France generates 70% of its electricity from carbon free nuclear. Adopting the EU’s goals would mean industrial self-sabotage for France.

“With a June deadline looming for EU countries to submit their final National Energy and Climate Plans, the European Commission is becoming increasingly confrontational with the French, insisting that they make their fair contribution to the EU’s renewable energy goals,” reports Euractiv.

EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson has warned France that if the country does not conform to the EU’s goals, she may have to “take steps” at the EU level. France has resisted adopting a strictly renewables-oriented energy goal, insisting on an approach that also includes nuclear.

Simson’s threats come at a time when the French nuclear industry is on the upswing. The EDF, after renationalizing last year, saw its net income rise to EUR10 billion in 2023, up from EUR17.9 billion in losses the year before that.

“The company said its ‘exceptional’ results were ‘driven by a very good operational performance, achieving a significant 41.4 TWh increase in nuclear generation in France in a context of historically high prices,’” reports World Nuclear News.

FERC Approves Winter Reliability Standards

Last Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission held an open meeting. Here are three takeaways:

First, FERC agreed to adopt the North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s extreme winter reliability standards, which were developed in the wake of 2021’s Storm Uri. “One standard, in part, requires balancing authorities to draft plans to protect critical natural gas infrastructure from outages during planned load shedding in emergencies,” reports Utility Dive. “The other standard provides greater specificity about a balancing authority’s responsibilities in extreme cold weather.”

Second, Chairman Willie Phillips said that FERC will release its new transmission rule soon. “This will be a historic rule,” Phillips said. “It will be the greatest development regarding electric transmission rules in the country in over a generation. We are very excited to implement this rule.”

Lastly, Phillips said that the DOE’s pause on new LNG export facility project approvals will not impact FERC’s permitting abilities.

Upgrade to Grid Brief Premium to get extra deep dives into energy issues all over the world.

Conversation Starters

• Ukrainian drone attacks have sapped Russian refining. “Russia’s oil processing suffered further in the latest week as the country’s refineries struggle with damage caused by Ukraine’s drone attacks. Facilities processed 5.16 million barrels of crude a day in the second week of February, a person with knowledge of industry data said. That’s down 94,000 barrels a day from the previous week, according to Bloomberg calculations based on historic figures,” reports Bloomberg. “As Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is about to enter its third year, Kyiv is trying to hurt Russia’s oil processing and its ability to send fuel to the front lines. Since the start of this year, Ukrainian attacks have damaged six refineries that accounted for around 18% of Russia’s total crude-processing.”

• Oil and gas firms sound the alarm over UK windfall tax. “Major oil and gas firms are set to hold crisis talks this week to discuss concerns about Labour’s windfall tax plans for the sector. Industry body Offshore Energy UK (OEUK) will host the meetings, which will take place on Tuesday and Thursday,” reports Oilprice.com. “‘We remain deeply concerned about what Labour’s proposals could do to our people. If we can’t get companies to invest here, there are no jobs. It’s that simple,’ David Whitehouse, the head of OEUK, said. The organization warned that up to 42,000 jobs could be lost in the energy sector as a result of Labour’s tax plans for the fossil fuel industry.”

• Another Japanese nuclear reactor is set to restart. “Japan's Tohoku Electric Power said on Monday it plans to restart reactor No. 2 at its Onagawa nuclear station around September after additional safety construction works delayed the process. Tohoku's Onawaga plant was closest among Japan's nuclear stations to the epicentre of the magnitude-9 quake in March 2011,” reports Reuters. “The company received a de facto regulatory approval to restart the No.2 reactor in 2020, by gaining a modification approval, but has seen a delay in the completion of safety constructions. On Monday, the company said it was working to secure materials, equipment and workers for the safety construction works and was now aiming to restart the reactor around September. It was previously set for May.”

Crom’s Blessing

Share Grid Brief

We rely on word of mouth to grow. If you're enjoying this, don't forget to forward Grid Brief to your friends and ask them to subscribe!