Risks of targeted power cuts persist for the month of January 2023. But the network manager explains that “we must not panic”.
Demining operation for the executive director of RTE, the manager of the electricity network. Will there be power cuts in France? “Before the end of the year, no”, wanted to reassure Jean-Paul Roubin on Wednesday evening on BFMTV in the face of the concern aroused by possible large-scale power cuts this winter. “For the start of next year, don’t panic“, he added, without however explicitly saying that there would be no load shedding past the 1is January.
The statement from the RTE executive follows a communication from the group at the end of October. Already at the time, the network manager predicted that cuts, if they were to take place, would be limited. RTE declared to expect less than five alerts “red» on its Ecowatt device which reports three days before the state of tension on the electrical network. The color red means that the electrical system is under high voltage and that it “it is not excluded that we make load shedding unless we all take ourselves in hand”according to the chairman of the executive board of RTE Xavier Piechaczyk.
Read alsoPower cuts: here is the scenario that could happen
However, the former executive director of EDF Hervé Machenaud affirmed Thursday morning on RFI that “cuts (were going to) take place this winter“, that there would be “necessarily“, recalling that”the problem with electricity is that it cannot be stored” while he “demand (for electricity) must be met when it occurs“. If “individual or collective efforts” have “a positive effect”, Hervé Machenaud wondered at the microphone of RFI: “How far will you have to go if it is very cold? No longer warming up?».
A circular sent by the government to the prefects has been raising concerns for a few days. The document anticipates possible power cuts in the event of extreme cold this winter and dictates the procedure to be followed. In this context, the executive has been trying for several days to reassure. Starting with Emmanuel Macron himself who declared at the start of the week: “We are a big country, we have a big energy model, we will hold this winter».
SEE ALSO – Energy shortage: Who is responsible? Find the Club Le Figaro Politics