Cold in France: no power cut, thanks to the "mobilization" of the French, according to RTE

Europe 1 with AFP 6:32 p.m., April 4, 2022

Electricity consumption in France, given the cold snap, was a little lower than expected on Monday morning, helping to rule out any risk of power cuts, the line manager told AFP. electricity at high and very high voltage RTE, which praised the civic-mindedness of households and businesses.

"RTE forecast a consumption peak of around 73,000 MW around 9 a.m., it was finally reached at 8:45 a.m. but at 71,600 MW," the operator said in a press release.

Lower consumption by individuals

"This difference is partly explained by the drop in consumption by individuals, businesses and local authorities who have shifted the use of their machines, lowered the brightness of stores or illuminated signs", according to RTE for whom these "eco-gestures "allowed "a drop of 800 MW, the equivalent of twice the consumption of the city of Montpellier and almost the power of a nuclear reactor".

The difference between the expected consumption and that finally observed is also explained "by the activation of load shedding capacities (mechanism for reducing consumption valued on the electricity market, in particular for industrialists)", added RTE .

"Thanks to the mobilization of players in the sector, all French production (around 63,600 MW) has been activated to meet consumption. It has been supplemented by electricity imports from neighboring countries (8,000 MW)", specified RTE. .

The operator had activated the national Ecowatt "orange" signal (which can go as far as red) due to the drop in temperatures, which was expected to increase electricity consumption, and called on households and businesses to reduce their consumption on Monday morning .

In a tweet broadcast on Sunday, the Carrefour distribution chain had, for example, announced that it would reduce its electricity consumption on Monday morning, through the voice of its general manager Rami Baitiéh.

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No alert for the next few days

RTE forecast national consumption of up to 73,000 MW around 9 a.m.

National production was to be only 65,000 MW at the same time, but France had to be able to import up to 11,000 MW to pass this milestone, according to RTE, which had not planned cuts, but had estimated that the situation risked be "tense".

“With temperatures starting to rise again this Monday afternoon, electricity consumption should decrease,” according to RTE, which does not provide a new Ecowatt signal for the next few days.

The French electricity system is under tension this winter due to numerous shutdowns of nuclear reactors, for maintenance and verification of corrosion problems.

Currently, 27 nuclear reactors are unavailable out of 56. Another device called "interruptibility" also makes it possible to immediately stop the supply of current on 18 sites of large electricity consumers under contract with RTE.

This device has "not been activated", according to the Union of Energy User Industries (Uniden), contacted by AFP.

This contractual system has recently been extended, according to Uniden, when needed.

While it was possible to use it five times a year for manufacturers, it is now possible to activate it ten times a year, according to a decree recently issued.

As a last resort, it is finally planned to resort to "load shedding", that is to say organized and rotating cuts in the electricity supply to around 200,000 households at a time for 2 hours.

An extreme measure but intended to avoid the 'blackout' - a generalized and uncontrolled blackout.