Provence power station
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| This article is part of the Global Bioenergy Power Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project. |
Provence power station is an operating power station of at least 150-megawatts (MW) in Meyreuil, Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating. It is also known as Gardanne power station.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Provence power station | Meyreuil, Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France | 43.469475, 5.487544 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 5: 43.469475, 5.487544
- Unit 4: 43.4688, 5.4896
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 4 | retired | coal - subbituminous | 250 | subcritical | 1967 | 2015 |
| Unit 4 | operating[1] | bioenergy - wood & other biomass (solids), coal - waste coal[2] | 150[3] | – | 1995[2] | – |
| Unit 5 | retired | coal - subbituminous | 600 | subcritical | 1984 | 2022 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner |
|---|---|
| Unit 4 | Energetický a průmyslový holding AS (EPH) [100.0%] |
| Unit 4 | – |
| Unit 5 | Energetický a průmyslový holding AS (EPH) [100.0%] |
Unit-level fuel conversion details:
Unit 4: Converted from coal - subbituminous to bioenergy - wood & other biomass (solids), coal - waste coal in 2016.
Project-level coal details
- Coal source(s): imported
Background
The coal-fired power station originally consisted of three 55 MW units, commissioned in 1958 and retired in 1981. One 250 MW unit and one 600 MW unit, both coal-fired and referred to as units 4 and 5, were commissioned in 1967 and 1984, respectively.[4][5][6]
Unit 4 was converted to a 150 MW unit fueled by biomass in 2016.[7] As of 2015, the coal-fired unit 5 was planned to run until 2025.[8]
In July 2019, Czech EPH successfully concluded its buy-out of Uniper's activities in France, including the Provence and Emile-Huchet power station. EPH planned to retire the coal plants in 2022, when France pledged to phase out coal power use.[9]
In September 2020, Czech utility EPH announced it would close the plant at the end of the year, two years earlier than originally planned.[10]
However, even though the plant had spent long periods of time not producing power because of employee strikes, it was not scheduled to close until June 2022.[11]
In February 2022, after several periods offline, the plant's biomass unit was once again operating.[12] In November 2022, news summarized that one coal unit had been replaced by biomass and the other would be demolished.[13]
On March 27, 2023, the "Conseil d’État" validated the cancellation of the authorization to operate the Gardanne biomass power plant which had been awarded by the Administrative Court of Marseille in June 2017. The order found that the plant's impact study did not analyze the environmental effects of the wood supply.[14]
In spring 2023, employees continued to organize around labor issues and the future of the plant.[15] Sophie Binet, a French trade unionist, visited the site and noted she would challenge the government to support new projects at the plant, including innovative gas production to guarantee "energy independence" in France, environmental protection with the "reuse of wood waste and local supply," and to allow many employees to help meet energy needs.[16] An earlier brochure by a worker's association had also described various "future" technologies for the site.[17]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ ENSTOE
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 (PDF) https://www.doosanlentjes.com/download/pdf/cfbt/Gardanne.pdf.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ ENSTOE
- ↑ "Provence Coal Power Station France," GEO, accessed April 2016
- ↑ "Coal-Fired Plants in France," Industcards, accessed April 2016
- ↑ "E.ON Facts and Figures," E.ON SE, March 11, 2015
- ↑ "ENTSO-E Transparency Platform, Installed Capacity Per Production Unit". European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity. 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "G7 coal phase out: France," E3G, September 15, 2015
- ↑ "Uniper signs agreements to sell its generation business and distribution activities in France to EPH|," Uniper, July 4, 2019
- ↑ "EPH announces plan to close its Provence coal plant a year after purchasing it," Europe Beyond Coal, September 11, 2020
- ↑ "Énergie : la France peut-elle se passer du charbon ?" RTL, April 20, 2021
- ↑ "Après des mois d'arrêt, la centrale thermique de Gardanne redémarre," France Bleu, February 4, 2022
- ↑ "Gardanne-Meyreuil : la reconversion controversée de la centrale à charbon," France3, November 9, 2022
- ↑ "Le Conseil d’État annule l’autorisation d’exploitation de la centrale biomasse de Gardanne," Soulier Avocats, April 27, 2023
- ↑ "À Gardanne, les énergéticiens touchent du bois," Humanité, 2023
- ↑ "A la centrale de Gardanne, Sophie Binet, militants CGT et salariés en pleine énergie syndicale," NVO, April 20, 2023
- ↑ "Projet Pour un Avenir Industriel," CGT, 2021
Additional data
To access additional data, including interactive maps of the power stations, downloadable datasets, and summary data, please visit the Global Bioenergy Power Tracker and the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
