The French government is putting a plan in place to deal with the looming energy crisis as fears rise of electricity power cut

France prepares for possibility of electricity blackouts during winter months

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2022-12-03 20:00:07

The French government is putting a plan in place to deal with the looming energy crisis as fears rise of electricity power cuts. A directive will be sent to regional police chiefs to anticipate scheduled power cuts, which could affect 60 percent of the population in the worst-case scenario.

At the moment, half of the country's reactors are offline because of ongoing or delayed maintenance, or corrosion problems. The new generation of power stations has yet to be built.

As a result, France will be "a major importer of electricity this winter" to compensate, explains Xavier Piechaczyk, chairman of the management board of RTE, which manages the country's electricity transmission network.

"Historically, France is an exporter because of its very large nuclear fleet, however, now it turns out that it has temporary difficulties ... (which) will be resolved but it will take a few years," he told France Info on Thursday.

He said France would turn to European neighbours to import up to 15 GW, which represents "a useful amount" to cope with a peak in electricity consumption of around 90 GW, and "contributes to being able to avoid cuts".