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The French electricity network operator RTE sees an increased risk of supply bottlenecks in the coming winter because the maintenance of a number of nuclear power plants drags on. The amount of nuclear energy available from mid-December to mid-February will be far below forecast and will lead to a greater risk of bottlenecks, the network operator announced in Paris on Friday.

On the one hand, strikes by power plant personnel had led to delays. In addition, the energy company EDF announced in early November that four power plants would remain offline longer than planned to monitor and correct corrosion problems.

Electricity consumption is expected to be five to seven percent lower in winter, mainly due to lower demand from industry. In the heart of winter, however, the fall in consumption could no longer compensate for the downwardly revised core production, RTE stated after its updated analysis. Especially in January there is an increased risk of bottlenecks, even with only a moderate cold snap. The situation is expected to ease from the end of February, depending on how many nuclear power plants are actually back on the grid.

Nearly half of France’s 56 nuclear power plants are still out of operation for maintenance and repairs, and the restart of several reactors is in any case scheduled for the coming weeks. Due to feared bottlenecks, France has agreed to supply electricity from Germany and supply natural gas to Germany in return. (sda/awp/dpa)