ENERGY. Faced with the energy crisis, an exceptional Defense Council is meeting this Friday at 10 a.m. to prepare for winter despite the difficulties in gas and electricity supply. Measures to reduce energy consumption are expected.
[Mis à jour le 2 septembre 2022 à 8h14] What solutions to the energy crisis? This is what the government must work on during the Defense Council dedicated to energy and scheduled for this Friday at 10 a.m. The Elysée has posted the objectives of the exceptional meeting: “to take stock of the situation of our gas and electricity supply to prepare for all scenarios this fall and winter”. Both the supply of gas and electricity are under pressure with, on the one hand, gas deliveries disrupted and now interrupted because of the war in Ukraine and, on the other hand, electricity production weakened by the shutdown of half of the French nuclear fleet.
For the working group, Emmanuel Macron decided to bring together around him all the competent ministers on the file: Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the ministers of Bercy, Bruno Le Maire (Economy) and Gabriel Attal (Public Accounts), and the two ministers in charge of energy and ecological transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher and Christophe Béchu. Several experts must also sit around the table. After their interview, a series of concrete measures must be announced by the government to avoid rationing energy during the winter season. But the tone has already been set by the Prime Minister in recent days: energy consumption must be reduced by at least 10% to avoid gas and electricity cuts and all forms of restrictions. An “achievable” goal she insisted on September 1 on France Inter. However, scenarios must be anticipated, especially if the winter is cold, where energy restrictions will be inevitable, these would then only concern companies for gas but could affect professionals and individuals for electricity. Faced with the energy crisis, other appointments have already been set by the government and the next is scheduled for “end of September-beginning of October”, date on which Elisabeth Borne will present the various scenarios envisaged.
Without Russian gas, is there a risk of a shortage?
Gazprom’s floodgates are closed. Since September 1, 2022, the Russian energy company has stopped gas deliveries to Engie. But this stop “does not change much” for France a few months before winter according to President of the Energy Regulatory Commission, Emmanuelle Wargon. An opinion shared by the general manager of Engie who explains this September 2 on RTL that “a priori we will not run out of gas”. Gas stocks will be 100% filled before the end of the summer according to government promises confirmed by Engie. A reassuring perspective but sufficient for all that? Doubt is allowed, especially if the winter is cold.
However, the Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher assured on August 30 on France Inter that for “a normal winter, we have enough gas in quantity” qualifying in the process that cold spells could lead to “hours or days of tension” and perhaps gas cuts for businesses.
Gazprom deliveries interrupted
If France “depends little” on Russian gas as assured by Emmanuel Macron on August 26, the fact remains that the supply of gas is impacted by the cessation of deliveries. On August 31, the Russian energy company Gazprom announced that it would “completely” stop the supply of gas from September 1 and “until receipt in full of the financial sums due for deliveries”. At issue in dispute over the payment of drastically reduced deliveries of gas to France.
Since this summer, only 1.5 TWh per month have been delivered by Gazprom according to Engie, which indicated in July that the share of Russian gas in its stocks is around 4%. Engie, however, claims to have put in place emergency measures to be able to continue gas deliveries to its customers even in the event of a stoppage of Russian gas deliveries. Algerian gas presents itself as a solution, but any negotiations for deliveries of Algerian gas are a closely guarded secret. The fact remains that on August 30, Olivier Véran, government spokesperson, deemed it “probable” to use this gas to ensure supply.
Are there problems with the electricity supply?
The supply and production of electricity in sufficient quantity also raise questions as more than half of the French nuclear fleet, 32 out of 56 reactors, is shut down. Once self-sufficient, France must now rely on imported electricity to meet its needs, a problem in times of energy crisis. The urgency is then to reduce energy consumption to consume less but over the longer term. There too, the risk of a prolonged outage is minimized by the executive director of EDF in charge of the customers, services and territories division, Marc Benayoun, who assured on August 26 that despite a very difficult situation, there is a very good chance that we will pass winter without load shedding”.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher nevertheless indicated August 30 on the airwaves of France Inter that power cuts could occur to individuals and businesses but only last “two hours maximum”. In addition to the cuts, it is the risk of rationing of energy consumption which awaits the companies which would be “the first affected” if necessary explained Elisabeth Borne on August 29 before the union of bosses. To avoid cuts and in the worst case a rationing, the government must think and present intermediate measures to limit the energy consumption at the exit of the Council of Defense like the possibility of “lowering the tension on the whole network” going from 230 Volts to 220.