PARIS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- France may go through a period of reduced power given the weather and lower production capacity of the French nuclear giant EDF, warned Xavier Piechaczyk, president of the managing board of France's electricity transmission system operator RTE, on Thursday.
This photograph taken on December 1, 2022, shows French ecowatt website on a computer screen in Rennes, western France. (Photo: AFP)
Piechaczyk told the public radio channel France Inter that a power cut was possible but would only last "a few days."
If the country continues to lower consumption, a power cut could be avoided, he said, inviting citizen to use the website MonEcowatt to monitor the electricity situation in their neighborhoods and see if they are "potentially" affected by the cut.
France may face an electricity shortage in January 2023, according to RTE's latest forecast.
Due to a harsh winter, heating consumption is likely to rise, thus causing red alerts over the grid, said Piechaczyk. Furthermore, the EDF is undergoing massive checks over its nuclear fleet, lowering electricity production.
However, Piechaczyk said he was "fairly confident" in the EDF's generating capacity. "RTE expects a production capacity of 40 gigawatts by January ... against around 36 today," he said.
French government spokesman Olivier Veran tried on Thursday to reassure the public. "We are not announcing to the French that there will be cuts," he said, adding that "if we were to have a particularly cold month of January and no adaptation of certain behaviors, then we do not exclude the use of measures, including load shedding."
