The broadcast of the 2022 World Cup semifinal between France and Morocco caused atypical electricity consumption in homes.
Glued to their television (almost 21 million viewers), the French have forgotten everything else.
Thus, according to the manager of RTE, “electricity consumption drops faster than usual consumption a little before 8:00 p.m. and until the break. Indeed, the French meet in front of the television to watch the game with little use of other electrical uses. “.
At half-time, on the other hand, and after the final whistle, consumption peaked.
+500 MW or the equivalent to the consumption of a city like Bordeaux
“At the break at 8:50 p.m., the French resume their habits (lighting in other rooms, kitchen, etc.) and a resumption of consumption of about 500 MW is expected, that is, the equivalent of the consumption of a city like Bordeaux. observed before seeing consumption drop again faster than expected when the game resumes,” explains RTE.
“At the end of the game, around 9:50 p.m., we again observed a recovery in consumption: +500 MW compared to normal consumption. At 10:00 p.m. we found normal consumption,” adds the manager.
And specify that these “expected variations in consumption” have been anticipated, “so there is no risk to the security of electricity supply.”
“It was not the victory that caused consumption to rise, but the game itself that affected the use of electricity, as occurs with football matches with a large influx of people in front of the same television, such as during the 2018 World Cup. “, explains RTE to AFP.
Finally, RTE highlights that it will closely monitor electricity consumption during the match on Sunday afternoon, during the final between France and Argentina.
Source: BFM TV
