The mutual aid of European countries during the winter on the supplies of electricity and gas will be “completely essential“, declared Tuesday September 6 on franceinfo Nicolas Goldberg, expert in energy policies within the cabinet Colombus Consulting. According to him, the scenario of a reopening of all the 56 nuclear reactors by February, announced by EDF and wanted by the government, is a scenario “optimistic“. He adds that “if it is cold this winter, we may have difficulties with the electricity supply“.
franceinfo: Emmanuel Macron recalled on Monday September 5 the agreement concluded this summer between the member states of the European Union, which provides for mutual aid in the form of the supply of gas and electricity between neighbors. Is it a tool that will be useful to us?
It will not just be useful since it will be completely essential. It is not uncommon for France to import electricity in winter. This will be particularly the case here. There is a chance that the interconnections will be saturated because there is a production deficit at the worst time. For electricity in France, it will be very complicated this winter. It will depend on the weather. Indeed, there are chances that we need these imports as much as possible and that is why we must secure them. This is also why we must guarantee European security and normally there is a market that guarantees all that. In times of shortage, each country tried a little to hinder the market. This agreement is there to ensure that the market continues to operate with this European solidarity.
European aid mechanism: useful this winter? ➡️ “It will be completely essential. We have a production deficit”, explains the energy policy expert at the Colombus cabinet. “We will need these imports” of electricity as much as possible, against gas exports. pic.twitter.com/s3Jpp1Zhs9
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) September 6, 2022
The government hopes that almost all nuclear reactors will be put back into service to face the winter, while half of them are currently closed for maintenance or corrosion problems. Is this timeline realistic?
He is optimistic. This means that by mid-February, we will have managed all the corrosion problems and that all the maintenance will have been carried out. All the reactors should return in February, according to EDF. However, be careful, because others will go back to maintenance, ie those that are working now, at some point, you will have to recharge them and do the annual maintenance. When we say that all the reactors will be restarted, it means that all the reactors will have produced and that those which are producing at the moment will go into maintenance later. The schedule is optimistic, but I hope we stick to it. We must see if the Nuclear Safety Authority validates the repair of corrosion and all maintenance work.
How important is the weather? Could all our efforts be wiped out by a cold snap this winter in Europe?
I don’t think they will be wiped out. On the other hand, if it is cold, we may have difficulties. France is a country that is said to be “thermo-sensitive”, that is to say that when it is a little colder, you have a lot of additional electricity consumption because there is a lot of electric heating. and sometimes inefficient electric heating. So, indeed, if it’s cold, we could have more difficulties, but less than if we hadn’t made any effort.