France has 2,155 power plants in this atlas, with 110,616 MW of reported capacity. The largest listed plant is GRAVELINES (5,460 MW, nuclear; current status unverified). By number of records the most common technologies are solar, wind and hydro. Grid operators listed here include RTE. Electricity is regulated by CRE. Renewables supplied 27.2% of its electricity in 2024.
Reported capacity is the rated size of the listed installations, not electricity being produced now. Source dates and coverage differ, so newer facilities may be absent and historical records may remain.
THE ELECTRICITY SYSTEM IN CONTEXT
France: nuclear availability, hydro conditions and electricity exports
Reporting scope: 2024 electricity review.
Output changes even without new plant capacity
RTE's 2024 review describes a recovery in nuclear generation, strong hydropower output and continued wind and solar development. These explain why an installed-capacity list alone cannot describe the year's electricity mix: availability and water conditions affect the energy actually produced.
RTE reports a net electricity export balance of 89 TWh in 2024, following net imports in 2022. Cross-border trade is therefore essential when interpreting French generation alongside domestic consumption. A low-carbon domestic generation mix is also not a guarantee of the same hourly mix at every connection.
By Power Stations Worldwide · Context sources checked · Review scope. This date does not update the underlying plant inventory or electricity series.
Grid operators and electricity market in France
Liberalised marketCompetitive generation and retail
About 60 nuclear reactors supply most electricity. Consumers can choose a supplier or stay on the regulated blue tariff set on CRE's advice. Islands and overseas departments are separate systems run by EDF SEI.
Part of the synchronous grid of Continental Europe, the largest interconnected grid in the world by customers, coordinated by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity.
What does “Liberalised market” mean?
Generators sell into a wholesale market, an independent operator runs the transmission grid, and households can choose their electricity supplier. Networks stay regulated monopolies because building parallel power lines makes no sense.
RTE covers the metropolitan transmission system. Island and overseas systems have separate arrangements.
References reviewed 2026-09-29. Logos are each organisation’s own site icon, shown to identify it. Selected organisations, not an exhaustive list of licence holders.
Metropolitan France stretches from Atlantic coastlines to the Alps and the Mediterranean. Major river corridors and mountain valleys provide a useful framework for exploring its varied power-station geography.
Capital
Paris
Languages
French
Major cities
Paris, Lyon, Marseille
Geographic reference: European Union country profile. Boundaries and names are for orientation; language listings are introductory, not exhaustive. Banner map: Natural Earth boundaries (public domain) with this atlas’s station records.
The source inventory contains 2,155 records for France. Select a fuel in the map to explore where its stations are located, then open a record to inspect reported capacity and provenance.
Inventory coverage
2,155 source records. 0 reported operational in their source snapshot; this is not live status.
Browse 2,155 source records, ordered by reported capacity. Ownership and operating status describe the source snapshot; they may have changed. Missing information is shown explicitly.
