The energy situation is less critical than expected this winter.
With particularly mild temperatures for the month of December, energy consumption was lower.
This has allowed nuclear reactors to be shut down periodically.
This Thursday, the Tricastin 4 reactor is still on hiatus.
"The lower consumption in this period means that the network does not need all the reactors available", indicated EDF, in a situation report, in which it reports 42 reactors in operation and 14 reactors stopped. .
"Just before Christmas", several reactors were thus shut down "for short periods", with "a peak of 10 reactors last weekend, shut down for modulation", which almost all resumed on January 2, except Tricastin 4, whose return to service is scheduled for January 9 to date.
However, it remains “immediately available”, if necessary, we specify at EDF.
Consumption down by 8.5%
Electricity consumption fell by 8.5% last week compared to the average for previous years (2014-2019) over the same period, according to figures as of January 1 and a last point from RTE, published on Tuesday.
Over the last four weeks, corresponding to the whole month of December, the average drop has also reached 8.5%.
The government has called for sobriety, against a backdrop of supply difficulties linked in particular to the gas crisis in Europe and the reduced availability of the French nuclear fleet.
The situation is less gloomy on this side as well: during his greetings to economic players, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire thanked EDF on Thursday and applauded the company and its CEO for the return of 44 GW reconnected " as I speak to you”.
"We will therefore meet our target of 45 GW returning to the network in January 2023", out of a total installed capacity of 61.4 GW, added the minister.
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