Electricity: the government is making the use of coal-fired power plants more flexible this winter – franceinfo

The government is temporarily relaxing limits on the use of its remaining coal-fired power plants to ensure electricity supply, according to a decree published on Sunday February 6 in the Official Journal. The measure “will be strictly limited to the months of January and February 2022” and “does not change the timetable for the closure of coal-fired power plants”high CO2 emitters and harmful to the climate, assured the Ministry of Ecological Transition in early January.

This change comes as France’s electricity supply is particularly strained this winter due to the low availability of the nuclear fleet, which provides around 70% of the country’s electricity. Several reactors are indeed shut down for maintenance reasons.

The energy-climate law of 2019 had set an annual threshold of 0.7 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted per megawatt of installed electrical power, activating the gradual cessation of production from coal, already marginal. This cap on greenhouse gas emissions “corresponds to approximately 700 hours of annual operation for a thermal power plant using coal”explained the government during the consultation on its draft decree.

According to the text published on Sunday, the ceiling is raised to 1 kilotonne until the end of February to cover the winter consumption peak. “This corresponds to approximately 1,000 hours of operation during this period”, according to the government. The threshold will increase to 0.6 kilotonnes for the remainder of 2022 and return to 0.7 kilotonnes in 2023.