BRUSSELS – All sorts of foundations, institutions, government services and private companies and households will be turning out the lights tonight between 7.55 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The campaign is aimed at raising awareness for energy waste and climate change. The action comes in connection with the presentation of the UN’s climate report today in Paris.

The company that manages the Belgian national network, Elia, says it is not alarmed, but it will be alert. The operational services and the control centre in Linkebeek have been informed of the situation. The power stations have also been warned.

The particular thing about electricity is that production must always be equal to use. That is kept in balance in a European network. Elia must make adjustments if power usage decreases drastically and peaks again five minutes later.

“We have automatic systems to handle large fluctuations,” says Elia spokesperson Erik De Leye.

Coping with the event involves some amount of guesswork for the network management company.

“We have to guess how many users will participate in the action, so it is impossible to say exactly how large a decrease will occur. Large companies will continue operating, and the action only involves turning off the lights, so that might limit the impact on the network.”

[Copyright Expatica 2007]

Subject: Belgian news