Arthur de Laborde, edited by Yanis Darras 10:33 a.m., November 21, 2022
Faced with the difficult "remontada" of the French nuclear fleet, RTE alerts in a new report, on the potential lack of supply for the month of January, in particular in the event of a cold episode.
On the side of the government, change of strategy.
From now on, the executive wishes to avoid the worst by favoring load shedding.
Will France be plunged into darkness next January?
Faced with the difficulties encountered by EDF to restart production of its nuclear reactors currently shut down, RTE, the manager of the French electricity network, sees red for this winter.
And if so far, the government has been procrastinating by refusing to panic the French, now the instruction is to communicate to make people aware that the risk of a power cut is real, indicates a heavyweight from Macronie.
Electricity: blackout, load shedding... Who is concerned, what are we talking about?
"We are quiet until Christmas, but the threat of a blackout should probably materialize as early as January," said an executive adviser.
To anticipate this scenario, described as nightmarish by a member of the government, an interministerial crisis unit has been set up for a month at the Ministry of the Interior.
Relieve the network
Objective: to assess the risks and consequences of possible cuts.
To avoid an uncontrolled fall of the network, the famous black-out, the State favors the track of rotating load shedding.
Concretely, the electricity would be cut for two hours in certain geographical areas to relieve the network.
These cuts should be anticipated three days before, thanks to the Ecowatt forecasting system.
What therefore limit the inconvenience.
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However, a minister recognizes that massive blackouts cannot be avoided if the winter is particularly harsh.