PhD – Antoine Goutaland – The grid operator in the energy transition

The energy transition requires a profound transformation of the electricity grid to decarbonise both production and consumption. It raises a question of access: if some users produce part of their own electricity, who should pay for the upkeep of a common grid that everyone still uses? Conducted with RTE, the French transmission system operator, the thesis approaches this question from the angle of energy justice: how can a grid be designed and managed so as to support decarbonisation while remaining accessible to all, as interdependencies between producers and consumers become more complex?

It draws on a historical case, tariff equalisation; on the capacity mechanisms introduced in the 2010s to share the costs of consumption peaks; and on two prospective cases: preparing for a possible blackout in winter 2023 and the development of self-generation. The thesis proposes to integrate access issues from the design stage of the grid and specifies the conditions under which a grid operator can commit to preserving them, in dialogue with the literature on platforms and the commons.