The Emile-Houchet coal-fired power plant in Saint-Avold, in eastern France, which was closed in March, started producing electricity again Monday morning, infrastructure manager Philippe Lenglart told AFP.
“(…) We were called into production from 9:00 in the morning. [08:00, em Lisboa] (…) In the morning “.
The Emile-Hochet power plant was scheduled to shut down at the end of March, but the French government did not do so as a “precautionary measure”, to guarantee the country’s electricity supply due to the conflict in Ukraine and the setbacks of the French electricity company. (EDF) Nuclear Fleet.
At the end of June, the French government announced its desire to reopen for the winter season, a reopening “part of the lockdown plan,” confirmed the Energy Transition Ministry.
The ministry confirmed that French President Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to shut down all coal-fired power plants had not changed.
The Purchasing Power Act adopted at the beginning of August also includes a measure allowing gas-electric company GazelEnergie to hire staff again this winter. More than half of them will retire and young people will be assigned to the company’s new projects.
GazelEnergie plans, among other things, to build a biomass boiler to replace the coal-fired plant.
In total, by the end of March, more than 500,000 tons of coal will be needed for the site which, at full capacity, produces up to 600 MWh and can power a third of the homes in the Grand-Est area.
There is only one other coal-fired power plant, at Cordemais (West), still operating in France.
In the country, more than 67% of the electricity produced is of nuclear origin, and the share of fossil fuels reached 7.5% in 2020, including 0.3% coal and 6.9% gas.
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