After steady weekly progress in restarting its nuclear reactors, EDF is stalling for time. Worse still, the energy company is once again behind in its calendar and this Monday it counts 14 immobilized infrastructures compared to 12 last week. However, it is not enough to plunge France into a critical situation, since temperatures are close to 0 in a large part of the territory. Indeed, the electricity grid currently has a power of 45 GW and benefits from the downward trend in consumption compared to the 2014-2019 period.
Circumstances that have allowed RTE to maintain an average level of voltage risk for the coming weeks in its latest monthly forecast for the French electricity system. The operator of the electricity transmission network has some moderate reservations for the second half of February due to the uncertainty surrounding the weather forecasts, but this 15-day window will coincide with the restart of four nuclear reactors, which should help to decongest network.
Gas reserves that are being emptied in substitution logic
The largest variations continue to be on the side of gas reserves, which reached their technical maximum for much of the fall. While its occupancy rate had dropped several points last week to around 80%, this rate dropped significantly again on Monday, to 76%. There is no reason to worry there either, since the average historical filling rate of gas stocks in this period is about 20 points lower.
Two factors explain this evolution of gas stocks. On the one hand, the arrival of ships loaded with liquefied natural gas, forcing them to make room to store this new material. On the other hand, there is a technical logic to which these reductions respond, as Thierry Oublie, general director of GRTgaz, explained on the BFM Business antenna this morning:
Finally, the water level of the reservoirs remains at 72%, well above the seasonal norms and benefits, like the other levers, from the drop in electricity consumption and a relatively mild mercury that limits its request. .
Source: BFM TV
