Between January 1 to 8, 2021, our electricity grid held on only thanks to nuclear, hydraulic and imports. An accelerated fragility of the French electric power mix

After a brief recall of the context of the first days of 2021 (temperatures, production capacities), the author comments and discusses data provided by RTE regarding energy productions and consumptions during the 8 first days of the year, while noticing the availability of the different energy source types. He outlines the actual loss of steerable capacities during the last 10 years, comments the situation of the intermittent production (notably during these days), and proposes a precise description of imports during this crucial period. Then, he focuses on hydroelectricity (its share and availability, its contribution, the role and contribution of pumped storage power stations), comments the issue of electric power purchase price at the time of importation, indicates consequences of the considered period of consumption regarding CO₂ emissions. He describes an incident which occurred on January 8 on the European synchronous grid which, according to RTE, had no relationship with the French consumption at that time. Appendices propose a detailed overview of energy data for January 8 in France and in Germany, a presentation of seasonal variations and of the role of electrical heating, a discussion of the crucial issue of solar energy management in Summer, propose data of provisional evolutions of powers in Western Europe between 2020 and 2035