Saint-Avold Shares Grid Costs Before New Demand Arrives

Saint-Avold’s next industrial electricity connections require more than an individual cable. The French energy regulator, CRE, describes an electrical zone with no remaining connection capacity and a network that loses its 400 kV supply route if an existing asset fails. Its October 8 decision authorizes RTE to anticipate and share works intended to create capacity for several users.

A Capacity Constraint With a Network Consequence

The zone is currently supplied through a 400 kV branch from Vigy and a 225 kV network loop. In the failure case described by CRE, flows move onto the lower-voltage network and Vigy’s autotransformers. New consumption therefore creates two requirements: additional capacity for industrial projects and a more reliable high-voltage supply arrangement.

RTE’s identified demand includes industrial decarbonization and prospective low-carbon manufacturing around a historically emissions-intensive industrial area. The regulator records a 1,080 MW planning assumption, based on partial realization of identified projects, against 1,180 MW in accepted technical and financial proposals and requests for such proposals. These are planning and connection-demand measures, rather than a record of new electricity consumption already taking place.

That distinction explains the use of a shared zone. Instead of sizing each addition solely around the first customer, RTE can prepare works that also serve later or concurrent users. CRE must authorize the anticipated capacity and set conditions for the technical and economic relevance of the investment. The arrangement gives prospective demand a place in network planning without treating every prospect as certain.

Two Delivery Stages Instead of One Opening Date

The technical program sets out 200 MW of capacity associated with a 400/225 kV autotransformer and related equipment at Saint-Avold in 2026. A further 900 MW is associated with the later network arrangement in 2029. CRE’s public announcement describes 1,100 MW of connection capacity available in full by 2029, with part potentially available earlier.

These dates are provisional and depend on customer commitments and their contracted increase in demand. They should not be read as confirmation that the earlier capacity has already entered service or that all future industrial loads are secured. For a prospective customer, the relevant delivery question is which stage can serve the intended load and on what schedule.

The Shared Contribution Covers a Defined Cost Base

The decision gives an estimated €68 million total for the extension and reinforcement works. Within that program, €31.3 million is attributed to the shared works chargeable to benefiting connection applicants before the tariff-funded reduction. Wider reinforcement is treated separately through the transmission network tariff. Dividing the full €68 million by the new capacity would therefore misstate the customer contribution.

CRE sets the shared unit contribution at €28,450 per MW before the 30 percent tariff reduction, or €19,920 per MW afterward. That rate applies to the relevant higher-voltage connection categories. For HTB1 customers, the decision sets the shared contribution at zero because the included works are at the highest voltage level. Zero for that shared component does not mean that every element of an individual connection is free.

The contribution sits alongside the cost of the applicant’s own relevant extension works. This separates the infrastructure made useful to several customers from the assets needed for one connection. The resulting price signal is more specific than a general charge for industrial expansion: it assigns a share of identified common works to users benefiting from the capacity they create.

The Investment Trigger Remains With Customer Commitments

RTE will continue the preparatory studies, but construction is conditioned on sufficient industrial commitments. The decision identifies signed connection agreements and contracted load increases as the basis for triggering the work. CRE considers that approach appropriate because it can cover a significant share of costs and limit the risk of stranded expenditure.

The cost-sharing period also reaches beyond the first cohort of users. The decision covers qualifying requests made from October 1, 2022 and a period of ten years after the shared works enter service, while exempting applicants whose relevant connection agreement was signed before CRE’s authorization. A significant change in the works or their cost would require a new determination of the contribution.

For industrial applicants, the immediate value is a clearer account of future capacity and shared costs. For RTE, the commitment trigger links preparation to a firmer demand signal before construction. The program’s delivery will depend on those two sides meeting: a network solution ready to advance and customers prepared to contract for the capacity they expect to use.