Moselle: Time is running out for the Saint-Avold thermal power station

Months after the first mobilizations of employees, the future of the Emile-Huchet coal power plant in Saint-Avold (Moselle) is still dependent on political decisions, while the employees' employment contracts end in April, they said. they recalled in a petition Wednesday.

In this petition consulted by theAFPwhich has already obtained more than a thousand signatures, the CFDT union at the plant called for “a rapid and favorable response from the State to convert the plant”, otherwise it will have to close its doors “next April” , end date of the employment contract for plant employees.

Large CO emitter₂it was already due to close its doors in March 2022, but between the war in Ukraine and the setbacks of the nuclear fleet, it has returned to service and plays a role in securing supplies in winter. Nevertheless, the approximately 150 employees of the plant regret that “the State does not deign to look into its future”.

Its owner, GazelEnergie, is however “ready to invest 100 million euros to perpetuate the site, through the conversion of unit 6 to biogas”, recalls the text, which also mentions the support of “all (the) regional political representatives” in favor of a conversion. This would “extend the lifespan of the Emile-Huchet power plant, by decarbonizing its electricity production”.

In September 2023, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, announced the conversion of the last two coal power plants in the country, in Saint-Avold and Cordemais (Loire-Atlantique), by 2027. The biogas conversion project , he, “advances technically”, declares to theAFP Thomas About, CFDT delegate at the central office. “We always go further in technical proposals” and boiler manufacturers or equipment manufacturers are called upon to study this feasibility. Such a conversion would be “a first in Europe, but not in the world”, the United States having already done it, according to Thomas About.

In Cordemais, EDF, of which the French State is the sole shareholder, announced at the end of September the abandonment of the Ecocombust project aimed at converting the power plant to biomass, which will therefore cease to produce electricity by 2027. Internally at Emile-Huchet, the union has also initiated negotiations to extend the duration of employees' employment contracts.

Curious to find out who's making the news The essentials? Join us on the number 1 business network in Luxembourg!