The 27 European energy ministers meeting in Brussels have managed to agree on a first series of measures to stop the rise in bills. In particular, they plan to reduce their electricity consumption by at least 5% in peak hours and limit the income of nuclear and renewable electricity producers to 180 euros per megawatt hour. Waiting for the issue to be raised again on Thursday at a summit of European leaders in Prague, the BFM Business energy dashboard shows that France continues to increase its production capacities.
Corrosion checks and repairs still keep the reactors shut down
As Luc Rémont prepares to become the new head of EDF, the public company has three fewer nuclear reactors shut down compared to last week. Three restarted over the weekend and Monday, namely Nogent 1, Paluel 2 and Bugey 2 for maintenance work. Corrosion checks and repairs are accelerating since 15 reactors were shut down for these failures, harming the nuclear fleet.
The month of October will be crucial: EDF plans to restart 8 reactors. And another 7 in November. If this calendar is respected, the nuclear park will be adequately supplied for the winter, otherwise there is a risk of creating electricity supply problems.
A month of October also crucial for water dams
As for several weeks, the relief of the French energy situation is on the side of gas reserves. The latter continue to approach their technical maximum but with a somewhat more sustained rhythm. In fact, gas stocks rose two points from just one last week to reach a 97% fill rate. For Engie, however, it is necessary to ensure that they can be recharged during the winter if it is necessary to resort to them because they only cover 25% of the annual gas consumption.
After several weeks of perfect stagnation, the water level in the reservoirs drops from 63 to 62%, but paradoxically it is close to the usual level of filling, which is somewhat less than 73% at this time of year. EDF counts on the month of October, which is usually rainy, to fill them.
Source: BFM TV
