March 16 (Reuters) – A drop in power consumption from October to February, mild weather and imports from neighboring countries ensured France avoided electricity grid red alerts this winter, grid operator RTE said on Thursday.

A demand drop of about 20 terawatt hours (TWh), or 9%, compared with seasonal norms helped the country avoid up to 12 red alerts on the Ecowatt system put in place in forced cuts were needed from some sectors, the operator said.

Weather also contributed to the drop by reducing demand by about 7 TWh over the October to February period, it added.

Lastly, imports reached 15 gigawatts (GW) on some days, helping the country to avoid a red signal.

“We were able to get through the winter without an EcoWatt signal, and above all without a power cut. We should rejoice,” said Xavier Piechaczyk, chairman of RTE’s executive board.

Reporting by Forrest Crellin and Benjamin Mallet
Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and David Goodman

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