A tense winter? The question of a generalized blackout in the coming months arises in France, because the country could lack electricity during the coldest periods. Prices at their highest, tensions over the supply of gas, nuclear fleet partly at a standstill… There are many reasons to worry.
RTE, manager of the electricity transmission network, gave its forecasts on Wednesday September 14 for the beginning of autumn until the end of winter. The supply system is placed under “reinforced vigilance” from October 15 to April 15, a first in France. Invited on BFMTV, the executive director of the company revealed several scenarios for winter, including a disaster: if the winter is very cold, at a level “that we have not seen for more than 10 years, we could go up to thirty days” of specific actions imposed on the French. As a very last resort, RTE could use automatic load shedding, which it defines as “localised, temporary power cuts distributed over the territory”.
If this scenario is “very unlikely”, this does not mean that we will not have to make an effort this winter. The government has already planned to communicate in October on the eco-gestures to be implemented at home. They concern all the rooms of the house and many objects of your daily life, which will soon have to be used differently. If the winter promises to be harsh, the next few years could be too. EDF, for its part, plans tight nuclear electricity production until 2024. A sign that we will have to continue to make efforts, even when winter is over.
To avoid cuts in the coming months, RTE therefore calls for a “general mobilization” in the event of tension on the network and the implementation of energy sobriety measures. On your side, you can take simple actions to prevent the network from being under tension, now and until 2024. Find out which ones in the slideshow below.
