The Corsican electrical network placed on orange alert. Do you risk EDF cuts?

While Corsica faces a double pressure of strong chales and a record summer crowd, the island’s electrical network is under high voltage. To preserve the balance of the system and avoid the risk of cuts, EDF triggered an “Ecorsicawatt Orange” alert and calls residents and visitors to energy sobriety, especially during this week’s critical evenings.

An explosive cocktail for the electricity network

The situation is a school case. On the one hand, the heat wave in Corsica pushes homes and shops to massively use air conditioning. It is expected on the island today up to 36ºC. On the other hand, tourism attendance at its peak mechanically increases overall consumption. It is in the evening that the tension reaches its paroxysm, when everyone is entering and simultaneously uses household appliances, lighting and air conditioning.

Faced with this peak of request, EDF identified a period at risk: From Tuesday, 12 to Friday August 15, between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.. During this niche, the island electrical system, which has its own specificities and limits, will be particularly requested.

“Eco -gestes”: simple actions for a major impact

To pass this CAP without incident, EDF focuses on collective responsibility and encourages the adoption of simple, but effective eco -gestes. The objective is to smooth consumption by moving certain uses outside peak hours.

The main recommendations are as follows:

1. Postpone the use of energy -consuming devices (washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, oven) apart from the niche 6 pm-23h.
2. Limit air conditioning: Set it to 26 ° C, extinguish it by leaving a room and well ventilated your accommodation at the coolest hours.
3. Standby in standby And reduce unnecessary lighting.

Ecorsicawatt: the application that guides you in real time

To support users, EDF relies on its free application eCoricaWatt.

Designed specifically for the island, it informs in real time of the state of the network thanks to an intuitive color code:

• 🟢 Signal Vert: Everything is fine, the network is stable.
• 🟠 Signal Orange : The system is tense. It is strongly recommended to apply eco -gestes.
• 🔴 Signal Rouge : The system is very tense. Sobriety is essential to avoid targeted cuts.

So this week is The orange signal which is activated For evenings.

New 2025: gray signal for greener consumption

Beyond the management of consumption peaks, the application is enriched this year with a new functionality: the signal gris. The latter does not indicate a risk of cut, but informs about the carbon footprint of electricity consumed.

When the signal is gray, this means that the production of electricity on the island is more based on thermal sources, more carboned. Apart from these slots, electricity is more “green”, resulting from local renewable energies (solar, hydraulic). It is a simple incentive to consume at the best time, not only for the network, but also for the planet.

Why is the Corsican electricity network so fragile?

The vulnerability of the Corsican network is not a simple problem of summer overconsumption, but the result of very specific constraints.

“Island syndrome”: a quasi-autarky network

Unlike the continental territory integrated into a vast European network, Corsica is what is called a Zone Non Interconnectée (ZNI). Clearly, it is an “electric island”. It cannot easily import electricity from its neighbors if necessary.

Although it is connected to Italy and Sardinia by the underwater connection BIG BAGthis connection has a limited capacity and is not enough to compensate for a strong tension. The system must therefore count above all on its own means of production To meet demand in real time, without external safety net.

A production mix under constraint

The production of electricity in Corsica is based on three main pillars, each with its limits, especially in summer:

1. Thermal power plants (Fioul): It is the backbone of the network because they can produce electricity on demand. However, they are expensive, polluting, and their capacity is not infinite.
2. Hydraulics: The dams are precious, but their production depends on the water reserves, which are often at the lowest at the end of the summer.
3. Solar: In full swing, it provides a lot of electricity during the day. His Achilles heel? Its production falls to zero precisely when the peak of evening consumption begins, creating a “hollow of production” that the other power plants must fill in emergency.

The aging of key infrastructure

According to EDF’s forecast assessment for the period 2024-2040, “Some existing structuring installations (Vazzio and Sacoi2) are aging and potentially subject to major damage”.

The Vazzio power station, a pillar of the system, and part of the bond with the continent are therefore fragile points which require increased monitoring and modernizations, accentuating the risk in the event of an incident.

The double sentence of summer: heat wave and tourism

It is in summer that all these factors converge to create a critical situation. The population of the island can triple, causing an explosion of consumption. Above, the heat wave causes a massive air conditioning, an extremely energy-consuming device. According to EDF’s analyzes, beyond a certain temperature, Each additional degree Celsius in summer increases the consumption by around 18 MW.

The Evening consumption point (6 p.m.-9 p.m.) becomes the moment of all dangers. Solar production has disappeared, and thermal power plants must run at full speed to respond to a demand that explodes, creating a risk of overload and cuts if consumption is not collectively controlled.