Electricity: to avoid cuts this winter, the network manager calls for “general mobilization” – Le Monde

According to forecasts by the Electricity Transmission Network (RTE), energy savings and the Ecowatt alert system should make it possible to avoid load shedding. In the current context, the system is placed under “enhanced vigilance”, an unprecedented level. JEFF PACHOUD / AFP Will France run out of electricity this winter? The operator of the electricity transmission network RTE delivered, on Wednesday September 14, particularly awaited forecasts for the period from October 15 to April 15, 2023, the risk on the security of supply appearing from the autumn. In an unprecedented context marked by panic in energy prices, tensions over the supply of gas linked to the war in Ukraine, and record unavailability of the nuclear fleet, the chairman of the executive board of RTE, Xavier Piechaczyk, places the system under “enhanced vigilance” – a level never used until now – and does not exclude the use of temporary power cuts, called “load shedding”, for certain individuals or companies. Read the decryption: Why the price of electricity depends on that of gas, and other questions on future bills He nevertheless ensures that the implementation of sobriety measures and a “general mobilization” in the event of particularly strong tension on the network should make it possible to avoid reaching that point. To assess the risk of outage, RTE puts forward an indicator: the number of days when an “Ecowatt red alert” could be sent. “A red Ecowatt signal, specifies Xavier Piechaczyk, it is RTE which says: in three days, we will organize cuts, unless companies, communities and households respond and make gestures at the right time. So it’s not automatic load shedding. » Read the interview: Article reserved for our subscribers « Electricity market prices are not based on rational elements » According to RTE’s analyses, the number of alerts should be, in the vast majority of scenarios studied, , between zero and five. “It’s not nothing, but it’s not very important over a period of six months,” insists Mr. Piechaczyk. To reach these conclusions, RTE assessed the main factors of uncertainty weighing on the electricity supply. The first relates to the availability of the nuclear fleet, whose production is at its lowest for thirty years. Monday, September 12, twenty-eight of the fifty-six reactors were shut down, the vast majority for maintenance operations and control of corrosion problems (cracks in reactor pipes). Two hundred weather chronicles Officially, EDF has planned to restart all the units that have been shut down by mid-February 2023. In its most optimistic option, in which there are no major hazards or drift plan, RTE estimates that 40 gigawatts (GW) could be available on December 1 and 50 GW on January 1, out of a total production capacity of 61.5 GW. “This corresponds to the technical maximum still accessible, specifies Xavier Piechaczyk. It is still possible to reach this level of availability but there must be no more hazards from today. In the central scenario, on the other hand, which takes into account the probabilities that each reactor will be returned to service later than expected, availability would be much lower, at 38 GW in early December and 45 GW in early January. You have 61.18% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.