Officials of Electricité de France (EDF) proceeded, Wednesday, January 18, in dams, to the first reductions in electricity production in connection with the movement against the pension reform, causing the loss on the network of the equivalent of a nuclear reactor, without causing power outages.
“There are already, at this time, production cuts in hydraulics”declared Fabrice Coudour, federal secretary of the National Federation of Mines and Energy-CGT (FNME-CGT), specifying that “It puts the network under tension but [que] it has no impact for the user”, which was confirmed by the Electricity Transmission Network (RTE), the manager of the high-voltage lines. EDF confirmed this drop in production in an information message on its site: “Loss of power available in progress on the EDF hydraulic park: 1,210 megawatts. This unavailability is linked to the current social movement. »
The Cheylas (Isère), Pied-de-Borne (Lozère) and Salelles (Ardèche) dams were affected by these production cuts, according to Mr. Coudour.
If there is a risk of outages, RTE may have to ask the operators to stop production cuts, as it has been able to do in the past. “There, we don’t do it, because we can compensate with our means of production, so there is no impact on the security of electricity supply”confirms RTE.