France is partly heating with coal this winter. With many nuclear power plants shut down, the government is forced to increase the use of coal-fired power plants. Concretely, they will have the right to emit more carbon than usual during the first two months of the year to cover winter energy needs. The measure “will be strictly limited to the months of January and February 2022” and “does not change the timetable for the closure of coal-fired power plants”, assured the Ministry of Ecological Transition in early January.
The energy-climate law of 2019 had set an annual threshold of 0.7 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per megawatt of installed electrical power, activating the gradual cessation of production from coal, already very marginal.
This cap on greenhouse gas emissions “corresponds to approximately 700 hours of annual operation for a thermal power plant using coal“, explained the government during the consultation on its draft decree.
bad for the climate
According to decree published on Sunday in Official newspaper, the ceiling is raised to 1 kilotonne until the end of February to cover the winter consumption peak. “This corresponds to approximately 1,000 hours of operation during this period”according to the government.
The threshold will increase to 0.6 kilotonnes for the rest of 2022 and will return to 0.7 kilotonnes in 2023. President Emmanuel Macron had promised to close the last coal-fired power stations by 2022 – easily mobilized to produce electricity. electricity when needed, but also very emitting CO2 harmful to the climate.
“The Le Havre and Gardanne power plants have already been closed and that of Saint-Avold will close as planned in the spring of 2022”, had underlined in January the Ministry of Ecological Transition. The Cordemais power station (Loire-Atlantique), it will be able to continue to operate until 2024 despite the presidential promise, because of the risk of tension on the network, the time that the EPR nuclear reactor of Flamanville (Manche) comes into service .