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There will be freezing temperatures and frost for several days, which will have a direct impact on our electricity consumption. Demand will be high. But Elia, the head of the electricity transmission network, wants to reassure.
Electricity consumption will be significant in the coming days. The transmission system manager Elia even expects this “Consumption peaks at certain times, around 12.5 GW (ndlr: gigawatt)“.
Jean Fassiaux, Elia’s spokesman, speaks of relatively high consumption, but not unusual for this time of year: “The biggest peaks in consumption occur in Belgium in winter, when it is very cold and dark. This week we will be at around 12.5 GW, but we have seen consumption peaks in the past that reach up to 13 GW. 13.5, almost 14 GW. We see that even if consumption will be high in the coming days, it will not reach the peaks that we have seen in recent years.”.
This higher consumption is partly due to the new winter offensive, but not only: “When it is very cold, electricity consumption is generally quite high. And if we add to this a recovery period, we had the holidays, we see that industrial activity and macroeconomic activity resume this week, the sum of these two elements gives a consumption that will be very high in the coming days “.
Risks to supply?
Even if electricity demand will increase in the coming days, manager Elia would like to reassure: “We have a production park in Belgium that will cover most of this demand. However, at certain times we may need to import electricity from our neighboring countries, for example France.”.
Here too, this is nothing unusual, assures Jean Fassiaux: “That is quite common. We import and export electricity every day. The European electricity system and the European market are structured like this. We import electricity, either because a country needs it, but sometimes simply because the prices in neighboring countries are more attractive.” . And that is why the exchange of electricity between countries takes place every day and at all times of the day. It is a completely classic and banal mechanism.”.
Consequences for the consumer?
Jean Fassiaux first reminds us that this cold period will not last long. And he believes that at the price level it is difficult to see a direct influence: “Contracts are typically concluded over long periods of time, so we will not see a direct impact on bills during this cold period.”.
Cold power consumption
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