Several member states, including France, have announced the extension or restart of coal -fired power plants which had been closed in order to respond to climatic issues.
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In Petershagen (Germany), in the Land of Rhine-of-Nord-Westphalia, the smoke from the Heyden-4 coal power plant, of the Uniper supplier, have been visible since Monday, August 29. After that of Mehrum, near Hanover (Basse-Saxe), this factory is the second to resume service across the Rhine, in order to compensate for the declining deliveries of Russian gas.
From the end of June, the coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave the green light to the restart of twenty-seven coal power plants, until March 2024. This decision, which contravenes the fight against gases Serre, the German government is not the only one to assume it.
Within the European Union (EU), number of countries – Austria, Italy, Netherlands, France – announced their desire to extend or relaunch already closed power plants in an attempt to pass the next month. “It is disastrous but it is a necessary evil if the EU wants to avoid, at best, cuts this winter,” concedes Simone Tagliapietra, an expert on energy at the Bruegel reflection center. On condition, however, he warns, “that this appeal is done only very punctually, one or two winters, no more, and very low doses”.
According to several think tanks, reactivating these power plants in Europe could generate between 100 terawatt hours (TWH) and 200 additional TWh – a quarter or half of the French nuclear park in 2019, in normal times. Which is far from negligible.
“If we withdraw 40 % of electricity production from gas, the ratio corresponding to imports of Russian gas in 2021, half could be filled in the short term by a greater appeal to the production of power plants in coal, the other half by reductions in electricity demand, the extension of existing nuclear power plants and the acceleration of the development of renewables “, explains Nicolas Berghmans, expert at the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) On energy issues.
award for recent history
In this context, France does not exclude resorting to the Saint-Avold plant (Gazelenergie group, a subsidiary of EPH, whose CEO, Daniel Kretinsky, is an indirect shareholder in the world), in Moselle, which could Complete that of Cordemais (Loire-Atlantique), the only one to operate today. Voted in July, the bill on purchasing power includes a legal framework for the reopening of the Mosellan site. The text provides for the recovery of greenhouse gas emissions in the event of “threat to the security of electricity supply”, on the condition, however, to “compensate” these discharges.
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