Will the French electricity grid be able to cope with the arrival of winter temperatures? With many nuclear plants still shut down, the government is not ruling out the possibility of resorting to localized power cuts in the coming months.
But for the moment the situation is still under control, Thomas Veyrenc, executive director of RTE, assured this Saturday on BFMTV: “We are not in a situation of cuts in the very short term. Even if it is cold, even if the temperatures are a little below normal for the seasons,” he said. “For the next three days, the Ecowatt signal is green,” he added.
“Consumption has gone down”
It will still be necessary to “remain vigilant” for the rest of the winter, Thomas Veyrenc stressed. “You have to deploy savings. But if we look at the situation in general, we are in a more favorable situation than we were in about six months ago. (…) Our society is probably better able to deal with cuts. , better informed, than a few months ago”, continues the executive director of RTE.
He was especially pleased to see that “the drop in consumption” of electricity “is not just a chimera or a discourse.” “Electricity consumption has dropped, and not only because of the abnormal heat in the months of October and November. It has gone down structurally: we are between 6 and 7% below the minimum before Covid ”, he detailed, specifying that this drop “is noticeable in industry, but also in the residential sector and a little in the tertiary sector ” .
Thomas Veyrenc also assured that “there is no fatality in having cuts” during the winter, the latter being avoidable if the “call for vigilance and the promotion of sobriety and energy saving” works.
Source: BFM TV
