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State or market: Investments in new nuclear power plants in France and their domestic and cross-border effects

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  • Zimmermann, Florian
  • Keles, Dogan

Abstract

France wants to become carbon-neutral by 2050. Renewable energies and nuclear power are expected to make the main contribution to this goal. However, the average age of nuclear power plants is approaching 37 years of operation in 2022, which is likely to lead to increased outages and expensive maintenance. In addition, newer nuclear power plants are flexible to operate and thus compatible with high volatile feed-in from renewables. Nevertheless, it is controversially discussed whether nuclear power plants can still be operated competitively and whether new investments will be made in this technology. Using an agent-based simulation model of the European electricity market, the market impacts of possible nuclear investments are investigated based on two scenarios: a scenario with state-based investments and a scenario with market-based investments. The results of this investigation show that under our assumptions, even with state-based investments, carbon neutrality would not be achieved with the estimated nuclear power plant capacity. Under purely market-based assumptions, large amounts of gas-fired power plants would be installed, which would lead to an increase in France's carbon emissions. State-based investments in nuclear power plants, however, would have a dampening effect on neighboring spot market prices of up to 4.5 % on average.

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  • Zimmermann, Florian & Keles, Dogan, 2022. "State or market: Investments in new nuclear power plants in France and their domestic and cross-border effects," Working Paper Series in Production and Energy 64, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP).
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:kitiip:64
    DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000143448
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    2. Will, Christian & Zimmermann, Florian & Ensslen, Axel & Fraunholz, Christoph & Jochem, Patrick & Keles, Dogan, 2023. "Can electric vehicle charging be carbon neutral? Uniting smart charging and renewables," Working Paper Series in Production and Energy 69, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP).

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    Keywords

    France; nuclear; electricity market; capacity remuneration mechanism; cross-border effect; investment;
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