The Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region is experiencing temperatures nearly 5 degrees below seasonal norms.
After a relatively mild start to winter, cold weather has arrived with a deviation of nearly 5 degrees compared to seasonal norms. These temperature drops have direct consequences on the region’s electricity consumption.
In the PACA region, each time the temperature drops by 1°C, consumption increases by 220 MW at peak times (between 6 PM and 8 PM), equivalent to the electricity consumption of a city like Aix-en-Provence.
The partners of ÉcoWatt PACA are inviting the 26,000 ÉcoW’acteurs, the 90 companies that have signed the charter, as well as all consumers in the region to adopt Éco’Gestes to moderate their electricity consumption.
Controlling consumption peaks is an important issue to ensure the efficiency of the electrical grid. During these peaks, the electrical grids are heavily strained.
With the commissioning of the “PACA safety net” in spring 2015, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region now has an electricity transmission network capable of handling such peaks. However, weaknesses may persist on more local scales.
Managing consumption peaks is also an issue in terms of sustainable development. During these peaks, the amount of electricity consumed is almost twice the average consumption for the rest of the year.
This implies activating additional electricity production means, which mostly run on oil and coal, and therefore emit a surplus of greenhouse gases.
