2023-10-13 19:25:01
“This draft text defines the terms of an experiment relating to the temporary limitation of electrical power available to residential customers,” the ministry declared to AFP, confirming information from La Tribune.
The ministry immediately warned that this experimental project has “no link with the situation of the electricity system for this winter”. “We are entering winter in much better conditions than last winter”, with a “level of tension on the electrical system […] currently lower than last year at the same period”, thanks to lower consumption and the increase in power of the nuclear fleet, underlined the ministry.
Network backup
“France has also been an exporter of electricity since the start of 2023, at levels close to 2021”, while it had been a net importer for almost all of 2022, he noted. However, the government wants to “determine” whether it is “technically possible to implement a new tool to safeguard the electricity network in the event of extreme tension, to avoid outages […] scheduled”, these much-feared load shedding in winter 2022.
“Our responsibility is […] to ensure that the resilience of the system is improved by experimenting with various tools, to test their effectiveness,” explained the ministry.
Contacted, the electricity distribution network to individuals Enedis explained that it had been asked by the public authorities to “work on a new safeguard measure to consider securing the electricity network in the medium/long term” and “remove the risk of cuts temporary […] which remain the ultimate device to avoid a widespread breakdown.
Test for 200,000 people
Concretely, the planned full-scale test would amount to lowering the available power of Linky residential meters to 3kVA (it is generally 6 kVA in homes). This “would have the advantage of not interrupting customers’ power supply and of preserving a minimum level of power supply for basic electrical uses (3kVA, corresponding to a radiator, a laptop charging, a refrigerator)”, a detailed Enedis.
The government intends to carry out this test in one go, for “a few hours” and on a perimeter of around 200,000 people, who will be notified in advance, according to the ministry. As in the case of outages, such a mechanism would only be “activated if all other levers were insufficient to avoid a widespread power cut (blackout),” noted the ministry.
Means already exist before arriving at the ultimate scenario of cuts: mobilization of production capacities, imports of electricity, voluntary reduction in consumption by manufacturers, voltage drops of 5% on electrical appliances.
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