9. Conclusions

The liberalization of the energy sector has led to profound organizational changes in the management of voltage regulation. Participation in voltage regulation, a function essential to the safe operation of power plants and the power system, and to the proper functioning of equipment used by system users, is now governed by European network codes which set out the requirements. These requirements are then transcribed into European and national regulations (decrees and orders in the case of France), and translated into the technical standards of the transmission system operators: the technical reference documentation for RTE in the French context.

In France, voltage regulation is essentially performed by the synchronous alternators of large conventional power plants connected to the transmission network. Generators must have the constructive capacity to participate...