In the face of electricity shortages, what will happen this winter? What cuts, when and for how long? In which territories? Enedis (operator of the electricity distribution network) and RTE (operator of the electricity transmission network) held a press conference this Thursday 27 October 2022. We will keep you updated.
For the first time in France, the electricity distribution network operator (Enedis) and the electricity transport operator (RTE) will set up load shedding procedures to compensate for the lack of electricity production or import. Clearly, in extreme cases, there may be power outages now, at strategic times, for 2 hour periods.
For now everything is fine. Global warming has at least one positive consequence: all the lights are green in the production and distribution of electricity. According to Jean-Paul Roubin, Executive Director Customers and Power System Operation at RTE, “There are no difficulties until the end of October, nor in the first half of November because the weather conditions are good. Social movements have stopped in nuclear power plants. The reactors restart and in mid-November the nuclear fleet will return to the curve we had established. But some things may deteriorate.”
For the first time, therefore, the French will have their eyes fixed on the meters and on the green, orange or red traffic lights set up by the new smart bison of electricity: Ecowatts. A site and an application allow you to know the situation in real time with a traffic light: with green it passes, with orange it slows down and with red certain things stop.
The production and import of electricity are sufficient for the moment because it is hot and the means of heating are not activated. The two energy-intensive levers are not fully activated: heating and hot water production.
According to Enedis and RTE officials, if citizens’ behavior decreases consumption by 5% (15% in extreme situations), then the French will experience a winter like any other without electricity deprivation.
The darkening it would simply be total darkness, the loss of electricity. There are two critical moments when consumption peaks: in the morning from 7-8 to 13 and in the evening from 18 to 20. According to Jean-Paul Roubin, France should not reach this extreme stage: “there is no risk of a blackout in France, i.e. a complete collapse which would lead to a lack of electricity. The safeguards are there to protect us from this.“
Before the blackout, there are therefore measures that will be taken to avoid it. First, the implementation of Ecowatt (via the site or the application) which allows you to have the dashboard when you want and the appropriate guide that goes with it. This is an electrical system inventory with, as with the weather forecast, D+3 forecasts to give visibility. Everyone will know what is planned for the next days and hours.
Another measure to avoid blackout, “for our customers who have a peak and off-peak system, the scheduling of the hot water tank, for example, will not occur between 12:00 and 14:00 if it was scheduled this way, but it will be postponed until later in the night when there is no peak consumption. There is no real impact for the user but it will save the equivalent of the consumption of a city like Paris”assures and Thierry Sudret, director of operations and systems of Enedis.
RTE can also interrupt the consumption of the industrial sites it manages directly. In France there are 14 and the manager can ask them 10 times a year to reduce consumption.
It will finally be possible lower the voltage by 5% to avoid cuts. “Individuals have a voltage between 220 and 240 volts. Lowering the voltage by 5% will mean that they will have 210-230 volts. Which for them will not be perceptible. The efficiency of some devices but everything will continue to work without too many consequences “assures Thierry Sudret.
If all the previous measures are not sufficient or if the weather conditions are more difficult, Ecowatt will turn red and it will therefore be necessary to take measures.
Contrary to what is said or written, there is no pre-established load reduction plan. We will act day by day, until the last moment.
Jean-Paul Roubin, Executive Director of Customers and Electricity System Management at RTE
Ecowatt then makes forecasts at D+3, which leaves time to organize. Until the same day, in the event of a change in climate data or if eco-citizen gestures have been numerous and strong, the shedding of loads can be cancelled. It is therefore a preventive system that will be activated or not until the last moment. According to RTE’s Executive Director Customers and Power System Operation: “we will look at the volume of load shedding to be done, what we lack in electricity and we will choose the territories in which to carry out the load shedding. The cuts will not exceed 2 hours. If we see that this is not enough, he will make a another 2 hour cut but in another territory. There cannot be 2 consecutive 2-hour cuts in the same place.”
RTE will measure the amount of electricity that is missing, Enedis responsible for the organization. These decision makers assure us thatthere will not be one region more affected than another and that a large city such as Toulouse or Montpellier will not be preserved and favored at the expense of rural areas.
If there are power cuts, everyone can be informed via the Ecowatt application, they will not exceed 2 hours, in the critical hours of the morning (approximately 7-8-13) or evening (17-20). As much as possible, an area relieved in the morning will not be relieved in the evening.
Everything will be done line by line and if there is a priority customer on a power line, his neighbors will not be able to suffer a power outage.
The priority sites were defined by decree of July 5, 1990. In each department, the prefectures have listed these sites as university hospitals, nursing homes, sites related to safety or vital activities or even obviously electricity production plants.
There is also an alarm device for life-threatening patients whose health depends on electricity. Each ARS through the doctors sends this type of information. Interested persons will be informed : “it won’t be a simple email or text message. If people don’t respond, officers will go to their homes to let them know. These people can then go to hospitals or nursing homes to prevent a power outage from endangering their life, assures Thierry Sudret.
However, much information can be consulted via Ecowatt with a geographical map of the areas affected by the cuts and the time slots in which they will occur. When RTE has formulated its requests, ENEDIS initiates the procedure.
