Power cuts this winter: what to do during an orange alert?

We are currently witnessing the lowest nuclear availability in the history of France, according to the head of the RTE (Electricity Transport Network). Indeed, nearly 27 reactors out of the 56 in the French nuclear fleet are shut down this Wednesday, October 19, 2022. The fear of power cuts this winter is becoming more and more real since the announcement of the plan of government energy saving on October 6th.

RTE press releases follow one another, and the scenario remains uncertain: in the event of too much pressure on the network, planned cuts of two hours could take place, to avoid the complete “blackout”, according to TF1.

The EcoWatt site, in the form of a color-coded map, will provide real-time network status, as well as an hour-by-hour estimate of consumption for the next 4 days, as RTL reports. These estimates are based not only on consumer habits, but also on external factors such as the weather.

Indeed, in the event of a major cold snap in the coming weeks, the risk of having to suffer temporary cuts will be all the greater. This is why the fears of the network operators relate to the second half of November: until then, the autumn promises to be mild.

The implementation of the Ecowatt signaling system is not only intended to allow you to predict future power cuts, it can also help, to a certain extent, to avoid them. Indeed, when a sector of the network reaches the orange gauge, it will be necessary to reduce its consumption on the largest poles.

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