Its closure is scheduled for Thursday, March 31. But the difficulties of EDF’s nuclear fleet and the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine could lead to its restart next winter.
The Saint-Avold coal-fired power station, in Moselle, whose closure is scheduled for Thursday, March 31, could resume service next winter, given the setbacks encountered by EDF’s nuclear fleet and the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, we learned Monday from the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
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“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, the ministry told AFP. 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 recover margins on the electricity system. The conclusions are expected by the end of May.
Annual production limit
In application of the energy and climate law, an annual production limit of 700 hours of operation has been set since this year for coal-fired power plants. The Gazel company had therefore initiated the closure of the Saint-Avold power plant on March 31, 2022, recalled the ministry. In a context of unforeseen unavailability of part of the nuclear fleet for winter 2021-2022, this constraint on operating hours has been relaxed to secure the passage of winter, to 1000 hours for the period from January- February, then 600 hours over 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, “in order to secure the electricity supply during the fall and next winter”, according to the ministry. “We have therefore asked GazelEnergie and EDF to prepare for this eventuality,” the same source said.
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“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, the company that owns the plant, on France Info on Monday. “We agree to restart next winter but we are waiting for a firm decision from the State, we need a decree”, said in the evening the director of communication of GazelEnergie, Camille Jaffrelo, joined by AFP.
In the event of temporary operation next winter, production would take place under two conditions: “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.
“Exceptional context”
With or without temporary extension of Saint-Avold, “the production of electricity from coal will remain extremely marginal in France (less than 1%)”, underlined the ministry, according to which the possible operation of the power station next winter, “linked to an exceptional context”would not call into question France’s overall coal exit trajectory.
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 emitting CO2 harmful to the climate.