How big is France's transmission network?

OverWatts maps 34,500 km of transmission line in France, across 19,259 segments, plus 177 substations. This is mapped length from OpenStreetMap, not an operator-reported total — where OSM is incomplete the figure is a floor, never a ceiling.

What voltage is France's grid?

Most of the mapped network is high voltage (220–379 kV): 20,500 km of 34,500 km. The highest voltage tagged anywhere in the country is 400 kV.

How complete is the grid map for France?

Strong — 53.6 km of mapped line per 1,000 km² of land, ahead of 90% of the 153 countries with any mapped grid. Coverage grades how completely OpenStreetMap has drawn the network, not how much network exists; large, sparsely-populated countries score low for geographic reasons alone.

Who operates the grid in France?

RTE, Enedis, EDF and 5 others are tagged as operators on mapped segments. Operator tags are present on 99% of France's segments, so this ranks who is *recorded*, not market share.

What interconnectors connect France to its neighbours?

18,780 MW of cross-border transfer capacity to Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, plus 17,775 MW planned. Capacities are from the Global Transmission Database (v1.0, 2023); flow over the GB cables is published live every five minutes by Elexon.

France · electricity network

France power grid

OverWatts maps 34,500 km of France's electricity transmission network across 19,259 line segments and 177 substations, the 9th most-mapped grid of 153 countries. Its backbone is high voltage (220–379 kV), carrying 20,500 km — 59% of the mapped length, with the highest tagged voltage at 400 kV. That works out to 53.6 km per 1,000 km² of land — strong OpenStreetMap coverage, ahead of 90% of mapped countries. It is connected to 7 neighbouring grids by 18,780 MW of existing cross-border transfer capacity, with a further 17,775 MW planned.

Open the grid lens →France profile →

34,500 km

Mapped transmission line

177

Substations

of 153 mapped grids

18.8 GW

cross-border · 7 neighbours

400 kV

Highest voltage

OpenStreetMap coverage

Strong53.6 km / 1,000 km²ahead of 90% of 153 mapped countries

This grades how completely OpenStreetMap has drawn France's network — not how much network exists. Large, sparsely-populated countries score low for geographic reasons alone, and every kilometre here is mapped length, so the totals are a floor rather than an operator-reported figure. 13% of segments carry a real line name and 99% an operator tag.

Mapped line length by voltage

380–764 kV13,900 km 40%
220–379 kV20,500 km 59%
<220 kV154 km 0%
Voltage untagged4 km 0%

19,259 segments · a segment is credited to the country containing its midpoint, so a border-crossing line counts once, on one side.

18.8 GW existing · 17.8 GW planned · capacities from the Global Transmission Database v0.1 (CC BY 4.0), existing as of 2023 · GB cable flow every five minutes · Contains BMRS data © Elexon Limited copyright and database right 2026

On the interactive map

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Load against the network

97.3 GW

Operating generation

Data centres mapped

195

km of line per substation

53.6

km per 1,000 km²

Where there is room to connect a new load depends on published hosting capacity, which most operators release only as their own map. OverWatts does not yet ingest those feeds, so these are the density measures the open data supports — generation and mapped demand against mapped network — not a headroom figure.

Segment counts from OSM `operator` tags, merged across spellings. Present on 99% of segments — this ranks who is recorded, not market share.

How France compares · mapped grid by country

1. People's Republic of China624,300 km
7. Mexico42,400 km
8. Iran37,700 km
9. France34,500 km
10. South Africa33,200 km
11. Kazakhstan31,900 km

Frequently asked

How big is France's transmission network?: OverWatts maps 34,500 km of transmission line in France, across 19,259 segments, plus 177 substations. This is mapped length from OpenStreetMap, not an operator-reported total — where OSM is incomplete the figure is a floor, never a ceiling.
What voltage is France's grid?: Most of the mapped network is high voltage (220–379 kV): 20,500 km of 34,500 km. The highest voltage tagged anywhere in the country is 400 kV.
How complete is the grid map for France?: Strong — 53.6 km of mapped line per 1,000 km² of land, ahead of 90% of the 153 countries with any mapped grid. Coverage grades how completely OpenStreetMap has drawn the network, not how much network exists; large, sparsely-populated countries score low for geographic reasons alone.
Who operates the grid in France?: RTE, Enedis, EDF and 5 others are tagged as operators on mapped segments. Operator tags are present on 99% of France's segments, so this ranks who is *recorded*, not market share.
What interconnectors connect France to its neighbours?: 18,780 MW of cross-border transfer capacity to Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, plus 17,775 MW planned. Capacities are from the Global Transmission Database (v1.0, 2023); flow over the GB cables is published live every five minutes by Elexon.

Elsewhere in France

Transmission lines Substations Power plants Data centres

Network geometry: OpenStreetMap (ODbL) © OpenStreetMap contributors, ingested and measured by OverWatts · derived 2026-07-26. Counts every mapped line of 220 kV and above; the map layer draws the ≥380 kV backbone only, so it shows less than is measured here.