Although winter in the meteorological sense has only just begun, the risk of power outages is about to increase in France. In his latest forecast for the electrical system for next winter, the RTE manager warns of a risk of recourse to the Ecowatt system (and especially to the red alert signal) that is “high for the month of January” although it depends ” largely on weather conditions and the possible occurrence of even a moderate cold snap.”
It is during these so-called “red” days that load shedding operations could take place to relieve the network during the consumption peaks identified in the time slots from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. And this is the main difference between load shedding and blackout, which corresponds to a total loss of control of the electrical system over all or part of a territory. In the first situation, the power outage is voluntary and controlled, but not in the second.
Cuts that can be canceled “until the last moment”
More than a month ago, the administrator of the electrical transmission network and the energy company Enedis announced the guidelines for the load shedding operation, which should be the last resort in the event of a voltage spike in the electrical network. The head of RTE, Xavier Piechaczyk, also reaffirmed it on the set of France Info this Thursday: “We can avoid load shedding if everyone takes the necessary eco-costs, especially companies. We can cancel these cuts until the last moment.”
If the red Ecowatt signs are indicated three days in advance, individuals will be warned of the possibility of power outages within this period, while power outages will be confirmed the day before around 5:00 p.m. The Ecowatt site will display a map of the potentially affected departments around 9:30 p.m. and users will be able to enter their postal address to check their personal situation.
A load shedding rotation throughout France
The load shedding plan will be specified in “rotating, localized and temporary” cuts that will last two hours with a slight tolerance and will be applied within the high voltage time slots mentioned above. These cuts will represent 100 MW consumption blocks distributed throughout the territory according to technical criteria and will be provided by the Enedis regional control bodies in the medium voltage network. Geographically, no zone will be saved except for those close to the priority sites determined by the departmental prefectures, but a rotation will be established.
The last blackout in France dates back to December 1978
Whether it is related to high voltage on the power grid or degraded weather conditions, load shedding is still a controlled interruption operation. Quite the opposite of the “blackout” that implies a general loss of electricity supply in the territory. The manager of the electricity transmission network has insisted on several occasions that France does not run this risk this winter, with RTE having “adequate and proportionate means to safeguard the electrical system depending on the magnitude of a possible imbalance.”
The last time France faced this situation was on December 19, 1978. The incident had started shortly before 8:30 a.m. when the “Bézaumont-Creney line, near Nancy, gave way, resulting in the transfer of German electricity – which France was importing today – to the secondary grid lines, the latter itself being cut in. The blackout had affected almost the entire country for almost four hours with the rare exception of certain areas in the eastern part that were supplied directly by Italians and Germans.
Source: BFM TV
