The two plants undergoing conversion are Emile Hutchet located in Saint Avold in eastern France, operated by Gazel Energie, with a capacity of 600 MW, and Cordemais near Nantes on the Atlantic coast, operated by Electricité du France, with a capacity of 1.2 GW. Collectively, these plants will generate a total of 1.8 GW of electricity using wood pellets, aligning with President Macron's commitment to implement the EU's renewable energy directive RED III, aiming to phase out fossil fuel usage across EU member states.
In response to the current exceptional energy situation, France issued a decree at the end of September permitting the continued operation of coal-fired power plants until the end of 2024 to ensure electricity supply. However, it remains uncertain what will happen post-2024, especially if the complete shift to biomass to decarbonize power plants is slated for completion only by the end of 2027.
Emile Hutchet is set to commence coal co-firing this year. Despite plans for closure in March 2022, the plant has remained operational due to the energy crisis induced by the conflict in Ukraine. Alongside 300,000 tonnes of coal, the plant has stored 500 tonnes of wood pellets.
Similarly, Cordemais currently relies entirely on coal imports from South Africa, Poland, the USA, and Australia due to the ongoing energy crisis. The original strategy was to start using pellets in the power plant from 2023.
According to the wood pellet consulting firm Futuremetrics, the estimated annual demand for pellets at both power plants is around 4.8 million tons, likely to be imported from the USA. This transition will position France as one of the largest consumers of pellets in Western Europe.
Prior to this shift, France had an industrial consumption of 480,000 tonnes of pellets annually, while private households used approximately 2.6 million tonnes.
