“If the winter is cold or very cold, we could find ourselves in a tense situation”, warns Thierry oublie, general manager of GRTgaz.
France has filled its gas stocks well and must be “able to cope“to an average winter while helping neighboring countries with imported gas, but must start saving”right nowto cope with a possible very cold winter, indicated GRTgaz, this Wednesday.
“In an average winter, France is able to meet gas demand while supporting the electricity system and actively contributing to European solidarity. But if the winter is cold or very cold, we could find ourselves in a situation of tension rather at the end of winter, and therefore we really need an effort of sobriety essential now to preserve storage throughout the winter.declared the general manager of GRTgaz Thierry Trouvou during a press conference on Wednesday.
“Faced with the drying up of flows from Russia, France has reorganized its supplies, betting on an increase in imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and gaseous gas from Algeria, Qatar, Egypt, various countries of Africa, Spain, and America“said Thierry Found. France already has four LNG import terminals, and is due to commission a fifth, floating, in Le Havre next year. Its stockpiles, 94% full, should be full by winter, he said.
“The capacity will not necessarily be constant every day”
As part of European solidarity in the face of Russia’s gas standoff, France will be able to deliver LNG from mid-October to Germany, which has no import terminals, up to 100 GWh/day, “i.e. the power of four nuclear units“, said Thierry Found. “Capacity will not necessarily be constant every day“, he nevertheless warned.
For the coming years, Germany, which has plans to install five floating terminals, will have to decide whether or not it needs French aid, added Thierry Trouvé. Because there are possibilities to increase exit capacity to Germany, but “through a number of works” to achieve. European solidarity will also materialize thanks to Spain, which will increase its delivery capacity to France and northern countries by 40 GWh per day from October 15, added Dominique Mockly, president and general manager of the network manager. south-west gas company, Téréga, at the same press conference. In total, Spain’s delivery capacity will thus increase to 275 Gwh per day instead of the current 225 GWh.
In France, in the event of a cold or very cold winter, GRTGaz, which has worked on the development of different scenarios like its equivalent in the field of electricity RTE, does not exclude “difficulties», especially at the end of winter when half-empty storage will have lower output yields, and in the event of a spring cold snap. He brandishes a panoply of tools to avoid any uncontrolled blackout. Firstly, a voluntary gas saving system, equivalent to that known as EcoWatt in electricity, will be implemented.in October“.
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In the worst-case scenario, if the voluntary efforts to save prove insufficient, load shedding (punctual shutdowns of a few days, editor’s note) will be organised. But they would only target large users consuming more than 5 GWh per year, said Thierry oublie. Or the glass, fertilizer, metal, petrochemical and agri-food industries. Hospitals, collective heating systems and gas-powered power plants would be exempted from it, so as not to add to energy stress, said Thierry oublie.