Le Monde | • Updated | By
All the European powerlines managers – like electricity transmission network (RTE) in France – are on the teeth. Friday, March 20, between 9 am and noon, exceptional hide eclipse of the sun to 80% in Europe, resulting in the “erasure” of 34,000 megawatts (MW) capacity solar panels available.
“This sudden drop in photovoltaic production, if it is not immediately offset by other means of production, could pose a risk to the network balance and cause blackouts” , warns RTE, which, however, do not speak of blackout , do not dramatize.
The subsidiary of EDF indicates that it is mobilized through the “coordination” of European network operators, an indispensable security of electricity supply of the Old Continent.
Germany will be the most affected
The situation may be particularly stretched between 10:00 and 10: 30 pm in strong sunlight as their “fuel” is free, solar power plants are requested priority when the sun shines. However, the interconnection of networks is becoming more important and their managers will have to respond in a coordinated and instantaneously during the eclipse.
All countries are however not housed in the same boat. Germany will be the most exposed, as 17 000 MW of solar power (from a total of 40 000 MW) will be affected. It will be followed by Italy (7,000 MW concerned 20 000 MW) and France (2000 MW 5400 MW). The equivalent for the Hexagon, two nuclear reactors, which is a priori perfectly manageable.
But France is in a European context. “The decline in photovoltaic production, if it is not offset in minutes, could lead to an imbalance between production and consumption, causing a significant change in the electrical frequency that operate the networks of thirty four European countries interconnected “, warns RTE.
When set to 50 hertz (Hz), this frequency should be maintained between 49.5 Hz and 50.2 Hz to avoid some central disconnect automatically from the network to protect their equipment.
The power cuts, in an emergency
These managers are brought together in a structure, the European Network of Transmission System Operators (Ensoe-E), of which there is an equivalent for gas. She stopped a “joint action plan”. The production reserves will be increased in each country during the Friday morning, especially in France (+ 50%).
Other means of production, “essentially hydraulic” will be mobilized and “can be activated in less than fifteen minutes” , says RTE, which controls the network from its national center operating system (CNES) of Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis ). Maintenance operations on the border interconnections have been postponed to optimize exchange capacities between countries. Last possibility, but only in case of emergency: power cuts, the current being momentarily cut in clients
Net Exporter current, France could help her neighbors.. It has 14 000 MW of exchange capacities at its borders. Germany, with which it is overall deficit for the year, might need occasional help.
This is not the first time that Europe is experiencing such a solar eclipse. In August 1999, a phenomenon of similar magnitude had occurred, but it had no impact on the network; While on the Old Continient, photovoltaic capacity was then a hundred times lower than that of today.
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