A crisis plan is being put in place to organize for power outages this winter. Some days ago, RTE (electricity transmission network) announced that cuts are expected since January. Therefore, it will be necessary to wait for rotating load shedding, that is, stops at certain times and in certain regions. According to RTE, they should take place at peak times, in the morning between 8 am and 1 pm and in the afternoon between 6 pm and 8 pm. The cuts will have a maximum duration of 2 hours in a row.
This crisis situation is managed by an inter-ministerial unit that reveals how to make energy savings while avoiding penalizing infrastructures that will not be affected, or only slightly.
RTE will say which departments will be affected. “But it will not be linked to the departments where it is colder, the cuts will be distributed and smoothed out.”
schools and transportation
The President of the Government must send a circular to the prefects in the next few hours to give the protocol to follow. All departmental prefects will receive it, with the exception of Córcega, which would not be affected by these possible cuts.
According to our information, the French will be warned 3 days before the “red” days and warned the day before if they will be affected by a cut. Public infrastructure, such as schools, could be affected, such as public lighting.
If your school’s address appears as blacked out in the morning, they will have to close at the time of the blackout. The welcome will only take place in the afternoon.
For transportation, the power of the train is not affected. But signage could be affected. In this case, in order to “not be at risk”, traffic will be cut off in the cut-off areas.
sensitive infrastructure
Another black point to expect, repeater antennas, especially for emergency services, will not be saved if they depend on a power line. This will refer to emergency numbers, landlines and mobile phones. For emergency calls, you will have to call 112, this number remains active from any antenna even if it is not the usual operator.
Good news for the French who are supplied by a power line that serves a sensitive site such as fire stations, police or gendarmerie stations, prisons, hospitals and clinics. They will be “exempt from cuts”. But that will only affect a minority of people. Thus, 60% of the French can be affected by a cut.
The 5,000 people hospitalized at home or requiring sanitary devices at home have already been alerted and monitored by the ARS.
“For people who need a generator, the idea is that one can be provided and the devices tested before January.”
ecowatt alert device
The authorities rely on the Ecowatt alert system to inform the French. A red alert signal will warn of unavoidable cuts if consumption does not drop after the alert is issued. A website has been created. to provide a real-time warning of the situation.
After registering your phone number or email address, EcoWatt will prevent the risk of outages and will indicate the most effective eco-costs and when to apply them. To date, 350,000 French people have signed up for this electricity “weather service”, or 50,000 more people for a month.
A EcoWatt app It is also available on Apple Store and Google Play Store. By downloading it, notifications will be sent directly to your smartphone.
Source: BFM TV
