INFO LE FIGARO. – The specter of partial unemployment is receding for the hundred or so employees on the site and more than 600 subcontractors.
After approximately eighteen months of standoff between the management of GazelEnergie, owner of the Gardanne power plant, and the State, an agreement was reached, or more precisely, was « recorded by the Prime Minister Friday evening »according to a person familiar with the matter. This agreement sets a purchase price of between 250 and 260 euros per megawatt hour for the electricity produced by this former coal-fired power plant converted to biomass (certified sustainable wood, partly imported). The contract runs for eight years, for 4,000 hours of production per year. Or around 1 billion euros in revenue over eight years for the plant, which had been shut down for a year and a half.
Enough to brighten the horizons of the hundred employees of the plant, but also that of the approximately 650 subcontractors employed on the site and at the port for its wood supply. The specter of partial unemployment is receding, while GazelEnergie was ready to submit the file to the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture. The agreement also removes the threat of a job protection plan, which would have been the logical consequence of partial unemployment. According to our information, the return to production should take place on 1is January 2025. Until then, employees continue to be paid by GazelEnergie. The Minister of Energy, Olga Givernet is traveling to the site this Tuesday, to announce the good news to employees who are now waiting for the agreement between the State and management to be formally signed.
