Towards gas and electricity outages and brownouts during the winter?

Four months before the start of winter, the government is preparing. Emmanuel Macron will chair a Defense Council on Friday morning dedicated to the supply of gas and electricity for this winter.

It is currently difficult to anticipate what the energy consumption will be this winter in France, because nobody knows if it will be hard or not. Météo France forecasts will intervene at the end of September.

France has prepared well on the gas side, but electricity poses a bigger problem. Of the 51 nuclear reactors, 32 are now closed, more than half. The goal is to get them back up and running very quickly, because France, previously self-sufficient in electricity, is now forced to import it.

“For a normal winter, we have enough gas in quantity. On the other hand, we must prepare to face cold waves,” Minister Agnès-Pannier Runacher told France Inter on Tuesday.

occasional cuts

The President of the Government warned companies on Monday, urging them to establish sobriety plans to reduce their energy consumption this winter, otherwise “brutal gas cuts” could occur “overnight”, threatened Elisabeth Borne, who intervened during the REF of the Medef.

Cuts that could last “one or two days”, according to Agnès Pannier-Runacher. They would only affect businesses and generators or batteries could be used to deal with them.

As for electricity, these cuts will be for a maximum of two hours. Individuals and companies may submit to it. These interruptions can be foreseen within the framework of contracts with the network administrators, subject to financial compensation. According to Agnès Pannier-Runacher, “thousands of companies” are already using it and the government wants “as many people as possible” to join it.

Towards voltage drops?

Among the axes provided for the sobriety plan, in addition to the voluntary interruptions of production by companies during consumption peaks and load cuts, the State could require voltage drops, for example from 230 to 220 volts. “You consume a little less energy, it’s a little less efficient, for example, your light is a little less bright,” Agnès Pannier-Runacher explained.

In the event of a larger drop, some electrical appliances could also be rendered unusable.

Another way studied, BFMTV learned, would be to considerably increase the price of energy beyond “reasonable” consumption. A lever that would target very large consumers and perhaps only companies.