Right now, France is running almost carbon-free: 83% nuclear, 14% wind and 10% hydro: http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/france/ http://www.gridwatch.templar.c

Right now, France is running almost carbon-free: 83% nuclear, 14% wind and 10% hydro: http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/france/ http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/france/ But that works in part because they're also exporting 15% of their generation to the UK, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. The export is reducing the need for gas plants in these neighbours, which have higher marginal costs. If France was an isolated grid, or if the neighbours had a similar generation mix, it would be harder to do this without a lot of storage, or throttling the nuclear plants.