Auto, metal sectors boost French 2015 power consumption

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PARIS, Feb 3 (Reuters) - French power consumption rose 0.5 percent to 476.3 terrawatt-hours (TWh) in 2015, boosted by increased demand in the car manufacturing and metallurgic sectors, electricity grid operator RTE said on Wednesday.

RTE said power from renewable energy sources continued an upward trend in 2015, contributing 18.7 percent of power output due to abundant wind and sunny spells during the year despite a slow increase in renewable capacity.

Although nuclear still represents more than 76 percent of French power production, the grid operator said solar and wind power was on the rise with over 10,000 megawatts (MW) of installed wind capacity and more than 6,000 (MW) of solar.

"Wind power output rose 23 percent year-on-year to 21 TWh, while solar output jumped 25 percent to 7.4 TWh in the same period," RTE said in statement.

RTE said it had invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to adapt its transmission network to take in power from renewable sources.

RTE, Europe's biggest grid operator, is 100 percent owned by state-controlled utility EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) and manages France's high-voltage transmission grid. But it operates independently of its parent company under EU unbundling rules that do not allow utilities to exercise control over their networks.

With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) more than 91 TWh of power exported to other European countries including Britain, Switzerland and Italy, France remained Europe's top power exporter in 2015. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) imported about 29 TWh during the period, RTE said.

The grid operator said regulatory obligations to curb pollution led to the stoppage of France's last six 250 megawatt coal-fired power plants. ($1 = 0.9155 euros) (Reporting by Bate Felix; Editing by James Regan)