Ecowatt gets a new look. The tool carried by RTE, the manager of the French electricity network, helps alert the French, businesses and communities of upcoming tensions on the electricity network. A sort of energy weather forecast, with the hope that it will encourage us to adapt consumption, by reducing or postponing consumption during the usual peaks, in the morning between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., and in the evening between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. hours. Typically: turn off idle tools and unnecessary lights, run a washing machine after 8 p.m., cook by covering pots and pans to avoid heat loss, avoid recharging your electric car, etc.
Ecowatt is not new. The system has existed since 2012 in Brittany and Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur, two regions which have the common point of being electrical peninsulas. Their electricity production is much lower than their consumption.
A growing tool
In recent years, the tool has continued to gain momentum, as reducing our electricity consumption becomes a major issue. So much for responding tothe challenge of the energy transition only to help overcome areas of turbulence, which are numerous in the current geopolitical context. Ecowatt was generalized throughout the territory in November 2020 and available as a mobile application, in addition to the website, last October. At that time, RTE also made Ecowatt a key lever to ensure the balance of the French electricity system as a winter approached, which promised to be very complicated.
To date, Ecowatt has been downloaded 3 million times, RTE is told, which is strengthening the system as the next winter approaches. As for alerts, we remain on the same green signals (“no alert”), orange (“the electrical system is tense. Eco-friendly actions are welcome”) and red (“the electrical system is very tense. Outages are inevitable if we do not reduce our consumption).
Consume at the best time
This system is enriched, from this Wednesday, with a new signal: green + carbon-free hours. The logic is reversed. It is no longer to alert the French about future tensions, but about the moments of the day when France completely covers its electricity needs, with 100% French and carbon-free production. “From our nuclear fleet or our renewable energies,” explains Xavier Piechaczyk, chairman of the RTE board of directors. “90% of our electricity production is decarbonized,” he continues. But there is this 10%, produced from gas or coal, which remains necessary to pass certain tensions, without forgetting imports from neighboring countries, which can also be carbon-intensive.
Typically, in 2022, French gas power plants have been called upon more than usual to compensate for the historic drop in nuclear and hydraulic production. “This had the consequence of degrading the carbon footprint of our electricity production, from 21.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MTCO2eq) to 25 MTCO2eq,” pointed out RTE in February.
In short, we can do better, believes Xavier Piechaczyk. In particular, therefore, by better planning our energy consumption. This is the whole purpose of this new Ecowatt signal, which invites the French to prioritize these carbon-free production hours as much as possible to run their machines, run the dishwasher, recharge their electric cars, etc.
“Around 40% of the carbon-free hours of the year”
How often will this new indicator be displayed on Ecowatt? Several factors come into play, from electricity consumption levels to the availability of our carbon-free electricity production capacities… However, “we have done simulations,” indicates Xavier Piechaczyk. And it is estimated that around 40% of the hours of the year are entirely decarbonized in the sense of this new indicator. They are more frequent at night, in the afternoons when there is more solar production, but also on weekends, and in spring and summer. »
An example: for Thursday, the new signal is displayed for the slots from midnight to 5 a.m. and from 11 p.m. to midnight. That leaves plenty to do.