Decennial development plan of the GRTgaz's transmission network 2013-2022

The GRTgaz network is the longest high pressure natural gas transmission network in Europe, and one of the best interconnected. It comprises a main network and a regional network. After an indication of some key figures of the GRTgaz network (duct length, transported volume, exchanged power, clients, turnover, investments), this report proposes a synthetic overview which outlines the decrease of natural gas consumption in Europe, evokes the continuing elaboration of French and European energy policies, outlines the role of the transmission network in energy transition, and the objective of the decennial plan to adapt the network to market evolutions, and presents the projects of the 2013-2022 development plan. In its other parts, this report discusses the evolution and perspectives of the European gas market (lower consumption in 2012, price biases between regions and between short and long term, uncertain demand forecasts, decreasing European production, development of gas infrastructures, decennial development plan for European gas infrastructures) and of the French gas market (rather high level of consumption in 2012, steadiness of demand until 2022, public service obligations, biomethane as a new renewable gas source, transmission offer by GRTgaz, capacity demand, assessment of network performance). The last part presents the planned developments for the network: process and delays, evolution of project portfolio, developments in the North and South areas, projects put into service within three years or after 2015, provisional development of capacities during the 2013-2022 period