The French government has been advocating a certain form of energy sobriety for several weeks. Tools have thus been developed to enable citizens to monitor their electricity consumption.
The electricity network is likely to be damaged in the coming weeks. Blame it on a drought that reduces the production capacity of hydroelectric dams and on a nuclear fleet that has been idling for several months. Thus, 25 reactors out of the 56 dispersed throughout the country were not working at the beginning of October. Maintenance (for 15 of them), but also corrosion problems are the cause of these shutdowns.
A really useful tool?
Thus, RTE (the Electricity transport network) has developed a site which allows the state of the electricity network to be monitored in real time. Called EcoWatt, this measurement tool is available at this address and via a brand new mobile application. This kind of electricity weather forecast informs the user when the electrical system is strained. It then encourages individuals to take eco-friendly actions (lowering the heating temperature, generalizing LED lighting, etc.) to minimize their impact on the network.
When the signal is green, it indicates that no alert is in progress. The orange color informs that the electrical system is strained. Finally, the red signal illustrates high voltage. In the latter case, power outages are considered ” inevitable if we do not reduce our consumption “.
The EcoWatt app also gives daily forecasts with hour-by-hour details. Notifications are sent when a voltage period is detected. It remains to be seen whether this app will be able to change the situation.
Source : TEN
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