Laurence Poirier-Dietz, CEO of GRDF, turns to its industrial customers to anticipate an organized reduction in their gas consumption, in the event of an emergency scenario.
While gas represents more than 20% of Europe’s energy mix with Russia as the main supplier, accounting for more than 40% of its imports, the question arises of the impact of a potential supply disruption. .
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In an interview given to echoes “, Laurence Poirier-Dietz, CEO of GRDF, wants to be reassuring: “ There is nothing to worry about for the end of this winter. Gas flows from Russia continue to arrive in France normally at this stage and the end of the cold season is approaching. »
However, the question arises for next winter, in the event of a partial or total interruption of Russian gas imports. “ We are preparing for this scenario which would be unprecedented. We are ready to apply exceptional measures to reduce consumption, including in an emergency “, she admits.
In this sense, the government should publish in the coming days a decree providing for load shedding. This is an organized reduction in gas consumption. “ Operators of distribution networks like GRDF and transmission networks like GRTgaz and Teréga are in the process of conducting a survey of their customers to determine those who could partially or totally reduce their demand, with a two-hour notice.“, explains the general manager of GRDF. An approach to be applied in the event of an emergency scenario such as a particularly cold week in winter causing a peak in demand.
A reduction in their consumption in less than 24 hours
The customers concerned by these power cuts are mainly industrialists and large tertiary buildings, such as shopping centres. “ We target the 3,700 sites that consume the most, at least 5 gigawatt hours per year, so that load shedding has a significant impact while remaining relatively simple to implementsays Laurence Poirier-Dietz. Sites of general interest such as hospitals, nursing homes, schools or military sites would not be impacted.
According to a survey carried out last year by GRDF, 1,650 customers could reduce part or all of their gas needs in less than two hours, without this having a significant impact on their activity. 130 of them have interruptible contracts, ie they benefit from financial incentives to stop or reduce their consumption in less than 24 hours.
« If we add GRTgaz’s load shedding industrial customers to GRDF’s 1,650, this could represent a drop of around 7% in the volumes consumed on a peak day. “claims the CEO of GRDF. To compensate for this gas consumption, most of these manufacturers have alternative means of energy production such as fuel oil or electricity or would be little affected by a reduction in their consumption over a short period.
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As far as individuals are concerned, Laurence Poirier-Dietz specifies: “ The 11 million residential customers are not affected by load shedding. However, it is important that all French people act now. In this sense, consumers are invited to lower their heating slightly or to favor showers over baths.
« If all households reduced the temperature by one degree and turned down the heating at night or when they were away from home, 10 to 15 terawatt hours of gas could be saved during the winter period. This corresponds to a drop of around 10% in their consumption “, insists the general manager of GRDF. Other options are also available to consumers to reduce their consumption: the use of programmable thermostats or replacing their old gas boiler with a new one.