ELECTRICITY CUT. The energy crisis could cause power cuts in France this winter. RTE provides data on daily electricity production and consumption. Follow the figures of the day and the risks of cutting in France and near you.
Will power cuts be inevitable this winter? After the strike in the refineries, plunging France into a fuel shortage since the end of September, several social movements at EDF are threatening this time the French nuclear power plants before winter. The FNME, National Federation of Mines and Energy of the CGT, initiated a broader strike in the power stations, in support of the strikers in the refineries and with a view to demanding wage increases. This strike would currently affect 10 of the 18 nuclear power plants in the country, to varying degrees, according to the CGT.
If the impact on the power supply is limited for the moment and security fully assured, the strike could worsen an already perilous situation in the power stations, with more than half of the reactors currently shut down for maintenance. If the social movements were to delay the restarting of some in-between, the energy sobriety plan, announced at the beginning of October by the government, could prove to be largely insufficient. Through the voice of the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, guest of BFMTV Monday, October 17, the government warns that the company must find “as soon as possible an agreement with its union representatives” because “it is vital that EDF keeps its commitments in terms of electricity production”.
Targeted and temporary power cuts have already been mentioned by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. They will depend on the levels of electricity consumption and production in the country. In addition to a new tool, EcoWatt, aimed at raising awareness among the French, Réseau de transport d’electricité (RTE), the French electricity transmission system operator, provides through the platform Eco2Mix valuable data, updated in real time or almost, to establish a dashboard of the electricity situation of the country.
How much electricity does France consume and produce since this morning?
Does France risk a power cut today? Here is the cumulative electricity consumption and production in MWh since this morning, automatically updated once an hour. The third figure corresponds to the imports necessary to make up the difference or to the exports (negative figure) in the event of a production surplus.
PRECISION : the data of the day are accumulations carried out by our care since the beginning of the day from the “real time” data made available on Data.gouv by theOpen Data Energy Networks (ODRÉ), a platform bringing together data from GRTgaz, RTE, Teréga and several other key organizations in the energy sector in France. We compare them with the data of the day before and with the averages on the same date over the last 5 years (2017 to 2021).
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Are power outages likely to occur in your area?
RTE has set up a website, MonEcoWatt.fr which presents itself as an “electricity weather forecast” and makes it possible to assess the situation of the electricity network today and in the days to come. The map offers several scales (metropolitan France but also region or department) and a color code. If it is green, the situation is considered “normal”. In orange, the electrical system is considered “tense” and “eco-gestures” are welcome. In red, the electrical system is “very tight”. Cuts are inevitable if consumption does not drop.
The principle of EcoWatt is to determine whether the production capacities are able to meet the consumption of the moment, or expected in the coming days, both nationally and regionally. Many data are taken into account, such as actual and forecast consumption, but also production capacities in France as well as the situation of our European neighbours, any failure on their part which could lead to a disruption of trade and therefore imports of electricity.
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What is the level of electricity consumption in France today?
In detail, here is the level of electricity consumption today in France in MW (every quarter of an hour) updated automatically once an hour. The dotted lines correspond to the forecast for the day. The gray curve allows a comparison with the average consumption on the same date over the last 5 years.
PRECISION : on this graph as on the following two, the data for the day (red curve and blue curve) are “real time” data drawn up every quarter of an hour by the ODRÉ and available on Data.gouv. The averages for the last 5 years have been calculated by us from “consolidated” data also available on Data.gouv.
What is the level of electricity production in France today?
Here is the level of electricity production today in France in MW (quarter-hourly) updated automatically once an hour. The gray curve allows a comparison with the average production at the same date over the last 5 years.
Does France import electricity today?
Here is the level of electricity imports or exports today in France in MW (quarter-hourly) automatically updated once an hour. Positive data correspond to imports and negative data to exports. The gray curve allows a comparison with the average imports or exports on the same date over the last 5 years.
Does France produce enough electricity for its consumption today?
Here is the total electricity production in France today in MW (quarter-hourly) automatically updated once an hour with regard to consumption (in red). The dotted lines correspond to the forecast for the day. The gray bars illustrate the surplus production that can be exported, or conversely, the imports needed to meet consumption.
What is the share of each energy in the production of electricity today?
Here is the share of each sector in the total production of electricity in France today in MW (every quarter of an hour) updated automatically once an hour.
Are voluntary power cuts planned this winter?
The option of temporary and geographically targeted cuts has already been mentioned by the government at the start of the 2022 school year, when an energy crisis was looming. Officially, load shedding should only occur in the event of a particularly harsh winter, but the declarations of an EDF representative in mid-October accentuated the concern. According to this EDF framework, even in the event of a “normally cold” winter, cuts will be inevitable.
A drop in temperature of 1 degree statistically leads to a national increase in consumption of 2,400 megawatts… RTE has therefore drawn up a plan for the peaks in consumption which do not fail to occur during the winter. Among the measures that can be taken in the event of a tense situation, there are in the first place alerts which encourage the French to reduce their consumption. According to the manager, a drop in consumption of 1 to 5% could already be enough to avoid power cuts during periods of tension on the electricity network.
On the EcoWatt site, RTE details the “eco-gestures” to limit consumption, in particular between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. and between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., in other words when the French start their day and economic activity increases, then when appliances household appliances are put back into operation and the heating is very busy in the evening, when some employees are still in the office and the public lights are switched on. Among these “eco-gestures”:
- Reduce the heating temperature as much as possible
- Shift certain domestic uses (dishwasher, washing machine, etc.)
- Moderate the use of cooking appliances (for example by avoiding long cooking times)
- Turn off unnecessary lights
- Provide specific heating programming (e.g. by reducing the temperature by an additional 1°C)
- Reduce ventilation to minimum required level
- Avoid charging electric vehicles during periods of stress
If the situation requires it, rotating load shedding is therefore envisaged, in other words voluntary power cuts on part of the network for a given period. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne tried to reassure in early September, referring to cuts “over a short period of less than two hours, by district”. These cuts could occur either in the morning between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. and in the evening between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., according to RTE estimates. On the other hand, they should not intervene for whole days or during weekends.
Voltage drops were also mentioned, in other words the reduction of the network from 230 volts to 220 volts, an almost painless measure according to the authorities. But the exceptional measures could go as far as the voluntary disconnection of customers (in return for compensation or the shutdown of the electricity supply of the 21 most “greedy” national industrial sites.
Paris, Lyon, Marseille… Which cities are at risk of power cuts?
If we know that large cities are particularly energy-intensive, it is difficult in detail to determine the cities most exposed to breakdowns and load shedding. From a facility (site) and consumption perspective, the data is regional. We thus learn that the Ile-de-France region recorded the highest consumption in 2015 with 29.8 million megawatt hours and 6.3 million sites, followed by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region with 23.9 million megawatt hours and 4.5 million sites and finally by the PACA, Midi-Pyrénées-Languedoc-Roussillon and Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes regions, between 18 and 19 megawatt hours and approximately 3.5 million sites.
Logically, highly concentrated urban areas such as Paris, Lyon, Marseille and several other cities are the most consuming and therefore, perhaps, the most exposed. Brittany is added to the list, with Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, “electric peninsula” and therefore sensitive territory.
Can Internet and mobile network cuts occur this winter?
If power cuts become necessary in the heart of winter, Internet and mobile network cuts could well occur. An additional concern for individuals and for the economy. In the event of power cuts, most European telecom towers are equipped with generators. However, these have a capacity limit of half an hour. The operators are therefore organizing themselves to deal with possible cuts. They have, for example, started to put mobile frequencies on standby during off-peak hours, that is to say at night.
In Le Figaro At the end of August, Liza Bellulo, secretary general of Bouygues Telecom and president of the French Telecoms Federation, indicated that the sector was “ready to take voluntary measures for energy sobriety, but without this affecting its activities”. In addition, players in the sector have started discussions with the authorities so as not to end up with too frequent power cuts which would impact both the mobile network and the Internet connection essential to its customers.