Réseau de Transport d'Électricité ("Electricity Transmission Network"), usually known as RTE, is the electricity

transmission system operator File:Electricity grid simple- North America.svg, 380px, Simplified diagram of AC electricity grid from generation stations to consumers rect 2 243 235 438 Power station rect 276 317 412 556 Transformer rect 412 121 781 400 Electric power transmis ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is responsible for the operation, maintenance and development of the French

high-voltage High voltage electricity refers to electrical potential large enough to cause injury or damage. In certain industries, ''high voltage'' refers to voltage above a certain threshold. Equipment and Electrical conductor, conductors that carry high ...

transmission system, which at approximately , is Europe's largest. RTE is a ''société anonyme'' headquartered in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and mostly owned by the French state through

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

and

Caisse des dépôts et consignations The Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC; ) is a French public sector financial institution created in 1816, and part of the government institutions under the control of the Parliament. Often described as the "investment arm" of the French ...

.French CDC in talks to buy 49.9 percent stake in EDF power grid unit
Reuters, July 28, 2016.

Corporation

History

RTE was formed as a result of

European Directive A directive is a legal act of the European Union that requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. Directives first have to be enacted into national law by member states before thei ...

No. 96/92/EC of December 1996, which directed that at least 26% of member countries' electricity sales be open to competition, and became law in France in February 2000. The directive required France to

liberalise Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used m ...

its

electricity market In a broad sense, an electricity market is a system that facilitates the exchange of electricity-related goods and services. During more than a century of evolution of the electric power industry, the economics of the electricity markets had un ...

by unbundling its generation and transmission activities, which until then had been fully controlled by EdF. RTE was established in July 2000 as a division of EdF, with a public charter to guarantee equitable access to its electricity market, and to secure the continuity and quality of electricity supply. Further legal acts in July 2004 and August 2005 enforced the legal separation of RTE from EdF, transforming it into a limited liability subsidiary, and granted it

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

rights to its

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

and the name Réseau de Transport d'Électricité.

Regulation

RTE's activities are overseen by the Government

regulatory body A regulatory agency (regulatory body, regulator) or independent agency (independent regulatory agency) is a government authority that is responsible for exercising autonomous dominion over some area of human activity in a licensing and regulatin ...

Commission de régulation de l'énergie The (CRE, or French Energy Regulatory Commission under its official English title) is an independent body that regulates the French electricity and gas markets. It is a member of the European Union organisation ACER and the all-European CEER ( C ...

(''Commission for Energy Regulation'') (CRE). CRE's duties in this regard include ensuring RTE facilitates access to its network, and to survey and regulate the electricity market while opening it up to competition.

Commercial operations

RTE declared a turnover of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

4,126 million in 2007, and yielding a profit of €466 million, both up slightly from the previous year, which RTE attributed to increases in network access payments and revenue derived from

interconnector An interconnector (also known as a DC tie in the USA) is a structure which enables high voltage DC electricity to flow between electrical grids. An electrical interconnector allows electricity to flow between separate AC networks, or to link sy ...

capacity auctions. The workforce in the same year was 8,279.

Data portal

RTE operate an open data portal named Open Data RTE which serves French electricity system data for public reuse.

Transmission network

RTE's

transmission system :''See Transmission (mechanics) for a car's transmission system'' In telecommunications, a transmission system is a system that transmits a signal from one place to another. The signal can be an Signal (electrical engineering), electrical, optical ...

operates at voltages of 63 kV, 90 kV, 150 kV, 225 kV and 400 kV. RTE deems the 63 to 150 kV circuits to be "high voltage" and the 225 kV and 400 kV "extra high voltage". As of the end of 2006, there were of transmission lines interconnecting 2,490 substations. Most of the transmission network is carried on 77,544 route-kilometres (48,180 mi) of

overhead power line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy across large distances. It consists of one or more uninsulated electrical cables (commonly multiples of three for three-p ...

s; only of the network consists of underground cable. In common with the rest of Europe, the supply frequency is a nominal 50 Hz.

Demand and trade

France's peak demand occurs during the winter, and in 2007 was 88,960 MW. The annual production of electricity was 544.7

TWh TWH or twh could refer to: * Tai Dón language, a language of Vietnam, Laos, and China * Tai Wo Hau station, Hong Kong; MTR station code * Tennessee Walking Horse, a breed of horse * Toronto Western Hospital, a hospital in Toronto, Canada * Tun ...

, generated from an installed capacity of 108,319 MW, almost 60% of which was

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

. RTE's network interconnects with those of its counterparts in most of France's neighbouring countries, and the international trade (both import and export) of electricity is a major contribution to RTE's business activities. France is the largest exporter of electricity in Europe, and the country is linked via a total of 44 high voltage interconnections to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, the last of which by means of an

HVDC A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curren ...

submarine power cable A submarine power cable is a transmission cable for carrying electric power below the surface of the water.balance of trade The balance of trade, commercial balance, or net exports (sometimes symbolized as NX), is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports over a certain time period. Sometimes a distinction is made between a balance ...

in this market is normally positive; in 2007, exports of electrical energy totalled 83.0 TWh and imports 27.5 TWh. The largest trading partner was Switzerland, which imported 26.1 TWh of French electricity and exported 4.4 TWh back.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reseau de Transport d'Electricite French companies established in 2000 Electric power transmission system operators in France Government-owned companies of France Électricité de France Energy companies established in 2000