In an interview given to JDD extensionthe Minister for Energy Transition says that “no territory will be treated differently” in the event that the grid manager is required to make localized cuts.
Localized cuts during peak hours, lasting up to two hours. The government presented its crisis plan this week to deal with possible tensions on the electricity grid this winter. Among the possible measures in the most critical situations: voluntary interruptions of electricity to lighten the network.
“With the Prime Minister we have the responsibility to work on the most extreme scenarios,” he explains this Sunday in JDD extension the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, stating that “load shedding is the last resort!”.
Not all territories will be affected by any cuts. French people who live, for example, in an area connected to a line that supplies a priority user or a vital site that cannot be cut will be exempt, the government said. That is 40% of the inhabitants in total.
In Paris, the list of priority sites means that only 20% of electricity consumption can be reduced. However, “no territory will be treated differently: load reduction in Paris is possible,” assured Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
“The theme is not Paris but critical centres: we will not shut down hospitals, whether they are in the capital, Lens or Rodez! Same thing for places linked to the police o We will not shut down the support centers for electricity grid managers, located in the internal suburbs, while they are managing the crisis throughout the territory”, continued the minister, inviting “not to fall into the demagoguery of certain oppositions that feed on people’s fears”.
Pannier-Runacher puts EDF under pressure
If the situation on the electricity grid appears tense this winter, it is above all because many nuclear reactors remain shut down for maintenance or corrosion problems. And the return-to-service schedule appears to be lagging behind. “EDF has an obligation to achieve results. The company must do everything possible to produce the electricity we need in conditions of maximum safety,” underlined Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
The minister who met the new head of EDF, Luc Rémont on Wednesday, promises to “give him time to acclimate” but urges him to “guarantee operational excellence in the management of power plants and the preservation of our hydraulic capacities, which will allow us overcome consumption peaks.
