Enedis and RTE are carrying out this Friday, December 9, a full-scale test of load shedding which may be decided in the coming weeks, to preserve the French electricity network. An unprecedented experiment in its magnitude…
This is an unprecedented test that will take place this Friday, December 9. Enedis, the electricity supplier in France, and the Electricity Transport Network (RTE), the company in charge of transporting it, will carry out a full-scale experiment with load shedding which may be decided in France in January 2023 if the shortage electricity was too strong in the coldest days and hours of the season. A national test “on the table”, carried out by simulations on cards, to ensure the smooth running of voluntary cuts, the last resort if the complete blackout threatened the country this winter.
To simulate these power cuts, Enedis and RTE will work with the prefectures on completely dematerialized scenarios, produced on a computer. Thus, the impact of the test will be neutral for individuals and businesses, no resident will be affected by any power cut this Friday. The only likely consequence for the population: new information on the load shedding plan established by a government circular at the very end of November, or some adjustments to the device presented last week.
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Enedis and RTE did not give details of the test
We do not know exactly how the exercise will take place, but different surges will be tested during the day, by varying the weather scenarios. This will result in fictitious load shedding, in other words targeted and temporary power cuts to relieve the network. During these simulations, the operators in charge of managing electricity in the country will repeat the procedures established if real power cuts were to take place in the coming weeks, but also the reactions of the technical teams and the decisions taken.
If this type of exercise is carried out regularly according to Enedis, it is its scale and its nature that are unprecedented. This time, it is a question of testing on a national scale load shedding caused by supply difficulties and not by bad weather such as thunderstorms or storms.