Bad news for the climate. One of the last two coal-fired power stations in France, located in Saint-Avold (Moselle) and scheduled to close on Thursday, could resume service next winter. The Ministry of Ecological Transition justifies this backpedaling because of the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the setbacks encountered by EDF’s nuclear fleet.
“Securing the electricity supply”
Indeed, the production of electricity is drastically reduced by the maintenance of several French nuclear reactors for suspicions of corrosion problems, already confirmed on at least five of them. In mid-January, EDF was still aiming for production of 330 to 360 terawatt hours (TWh) for 2022. It was finally reduced to 295-315 TWh. Unheard of for thirty years. To remedy the lack of electricity to come and in full disengagement of Russian gas, France says it is thus obliged to return to coal.
“If the Saint-Avold plant is not intended to operate in the coming months”work carried out by the ministry with the manager of the RTE network “could conclude on the advisability of authorizing the punctual restart of this plant by again temporarily relaxing the constraint” on its number of hours of operation, indicates the government. Too polluting and above all large producers of CO2, coal-fired power plants are normally limited to 700 annual operating hours in France, a rule that came into force in 2022 as part of the climate energy law, itself passed in 2019. In this context of the unavailability of part of the nuclear fleet for the winter of 2021-2022, this constraint has been relaxed to secure the passage of winter, to 1,000 hours for the January-February period, then 600 hours for the rest of 2022.
To allow the restart of Saint-Avold, the government would relax “temporarily again the constraint on the number of hours of operation of this plant”, as for the only other coal-fired power station still open, that of Cordemais, in Loire-Atlantique. this “in order to secure the electricity supply during the coming autumn and winter”again according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which “ask GazelEnergy [l’entreprise propriétaire de la centrale de Saint-Avold, nldr] and to EDF to prepare for this eventuality”.
“Full emissions offsetting”
“It is clear that the plant is going to stop. Will it restart this winter? It is a government decision. If we have to contribute to the security of the electrical system, obviously we will mobilize”said Jean-Michel Mazalerat, president of GazelEnergie, on Monday. “We agree to restart next winter but we are waiting for a firm decision from the State, we need a decree”then specified Camille Jaffrelo, the group’s communications director.
In an attempt to swallow the pill, the government provides two conditions for the temporary production of this site next winter: “An absence of Russian coal supply and full compensation of greenhouse gas emissions due to the operation of the plant, in order to neutralize the corresponding climate impact”, the ministry said. With or without extension of Saint-Avold, “electricity production from coal will remain extremely marginal in France – less than 1%”, underlines the ministry. The potential operation of the plant next winter, “linked to an exceptional context, would not call into question the overall trajectory of France’s coal exit”is it still promised.
President Emmanuel Macron had promised to close the last coal-fired power stations by 2022 – easily mobilized to produce electricity when needed, but also very CO2-emitting and ultra-harmful for the climate. For her part, the Minister for Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, has requested an independent audit from EDF to identify the levers to optimize the availability of the nuclear fleet. And thus recover margins on the electrical system. The conclusions are expected by the end of May.