Enedis technicians intervened after the power cut.

Drawing.

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Mourad Allili / Sipa

Despite the tensions on the electricity supply, the government assured on Tuesday that France was not in danger of being plunged into darkness this winter.

"The French will be supplied without difficulty and we do not risk any blackout", declared in the Senate the Secretary of State for biodiversity Bérangère Abba.

Controlled and temporary cuts as a last resort

“We will in no case be confronted with blackout situations, therefore massive and uncontrolled cuts on the network.

The security of our electricity supply is completely guaranteed, ”she insisted.

"It is only in the event of a severe and unusual cold spell, if temperatures fell significantly below seasonal norms by several degrees on average for several consecutive days that a point of vigilance would remain," he said. she added however.

The network manager would then have several levers, including controlled and temporary outages, of a maximum of two hours, "improbable" and "as a last resort".

"It is especially not a question of putting France in the dark", she underlined.

Bérangère Abba was speaking during a debate on the risk of “blackout” organized at the initiative of the Les Républicains group.

The RTE network manager warned that France could experience electricity supply difficulties this winter, in particular in the event of a cold snap in February, the health crisis having disrupted the maintenance of nuclear reactors.

The closure of Fessenheim pointed out

RTE called on the French to limit their consumption on Friday morning due to the cold, the safety margin then being limited.

The supply had however been assured without incident.

In this context, part of the opposition has once again strongly criticized the decision to close the nuclear power plant in Fessenheim (Haut-Rhin) last year.

"The government has deprived France of a production capacity of 1.8 GW, which represents 1,800 wind turbines", regretted Senator (LR) Daniel Gremillet at the introduction of the debate.

"We have not finished paying the consequences."

"The two reactors at Fessenheim would not have been sufficient on their own to change the situation," replied Bérangère Abba, stressing that the plant would also have needed significant investments to continue operating.

Delay for the Flamanville EPR

"The current episode shows us more than ever the importance of diversifying our electrical + mix + (bouquet) so as not to depend on a single source of energy and to strengthen the resilience of the network", she said. to be worth.

France has also suffered from numerous delays in the construction of the EPR in Flamanville (Manche).

“Despite the health crisis, EDF has not announced any change in its fuel loading target at the end of 2022.

The EPR should in all likelihood be able to be operational in 2023 ”, indicated Bérangère Abba, questioned on this point.

“The first fuel assemblies were supplied in October for storage and the process of upgrading the welds located on the secondary circuit continues,” she said.

The site has indeed experienced problems with defective welds, some of which will have to be resumed at the request of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN).

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