France is better prepared for the winter than what was expected at the start of autumn, according to French electricity grid operator RTE, which on Tuesday welcomed a drop in energy consumption and an increase in production potential.
Updating its winter outlook for the electricity system on Tuesday, French grid operator RTE said France is in a “more favourable situation than at the start of autumn” and can now better face pressure situations.
Reasons for a better outlook include the “significant decrease in consumption” of 9% compared to the average consumption rate from 2014-2019.
Industry and the business sector recorded the biggest drops in consumption, though households also registered significant declines. Still, there is a need for “continued [energy] sobriety” to get France safely through winter, RTE added.
At the same time, France increased its production potential at the end of the year.
Nuclear power production, for instance, has exceeded 40 GW, as the problem of corrosion affecting reactors has been largely addressed. Though production had still stooped below historical lows, the situation remains favourable and in line with the forecasts made at the start of the autumn, with 40 out of 56 reactors in operation.
Hydropower production also went up as stocks, which were low at the start of the season, were “replenished”. On 5 December, the lakes of hydraulic power stations were 5.2% fuller than in the same period between 2015 and 2021, notes FranceInfo using RTE data.
Gas supply issues are still no concern for France, where reserves are close to 100%, though a certain amount of vigilance is required for the second part of the winter.
Another factor contributing to better winter forecasts is the satisfactory and constant exchange capacity of 15GW between France and the rest of the EU.
This means that the possibility of reaching “the red alert” of RTE’s “Ecowatt” system which makes it possible to find out in advance about future tensions on the network and the measures to be taken to reduce them, is “almost zero”. For the rest of the winter, the risk threshold is lowered from “high” to “medium”.
The network operator thus concludes that “France is approaching the heart of winter in a more favourable situation than at the beginning of autumn” and is “better prepared to deal with tension situations”.
This announcement comes after the media reported the possibility of power cuts in January following RTE’s announcement on 18 November that there was a high risk of tensions on the grid due to the low availability of nuclear energy.
(Davide Basso | EURACTIV.fr)
Source: euractiv.com
