The French government will temporarily increase the use of coal during the winter to ensure the supply of electricity. This is what a decree published in the Official Journal provides.
The measure “will be strictly limited to the months of January and February 2022” and “will not change the timetable for the closure of coal plants,” the ecological transition ministry said in early January. The decision comes at a time when the country’s electricity supply is under particular pressure due to the low availability of the nuclear park, which supplies around 70% of France’s electricity.
The 2019 climate law set an annual threshold of 0.7 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per megawatt of installed electrical capacity, marking the gradual end of coal-fired power generation, which is already very limited. This greenhouse gas emission ceiling “corresponds to approximately 700 operating hours per year for a coal-fired power plant,” the government explained.
According to the text published on Sunday, the ceiling is raised to one kiloton until the end of February to cover the peak of winter consumption. “This corresponds to about 1,000 operating hours during this period” of the coal-fired plants, the government explains. President Emmanuel Macron had promised to close the last coal plants by 2022.
“The Le Havre and Gardanne plants have already been closed and the Saint-Avold plant will close as planned in the spring of 2022,” the ecological transition ministry said in January. The Cordemais plant (Loire-Atlantique) could continue to operate until 2024, despite the government’s commitments, due to the risk of tensions on the network, when the Flamanville EPR nuclear reactor will enter service.