Luc Rémont, CEO of EDF, picked up the phone last week to directly warn the 350 employees of the Cordemais coal-fired power station (Loire-Atlantique): the public group will not support the reconversion of its thermal unit, scheduled to close after the winter of 2026/2027, into a factory producing black pellets made from class B wood waste: a project called “Ecocombust”.
The manager even offered to come on site to explain it, on Wednesday, September 18, but the CGT representatives made him understand that this initiative was inappropriate. Even if the file is supported by Paprec, EDF’s decision amounts to burying the program because the waste collector needs the support of the electrician to make it happen: owner of the patents and the land, EDF was also asked by Paprec to become a buyer of the pellets for about ten years, the time to secure the investment and find other commercial outlets.
It is rumored that Luc Rémont wanted to decide before the appointment of a new minister, thus having a free hand. The new tax recently imagined by the Bercy services on energy producers in France, which would represent an additional levy of 3 billion euros for EDF, has also not worked in favor of the Ecocombust file, theoretically protected by Emmanuel Macron’s promise in September 2023.
A Framatome factory in return?
As compensation, the operator’s manager has committed to setting up a Framatome unit in Cordemais to manufacture the piping needed for the nuclear program, similar to the one that exists opposite in Paimbœuf, on the south bank of the Loire. With the prospect of creating 80 jobs in the short term, a number that could then reach 200. It remains to be seen whether this is not a case of stripping the East for the West: the Romans-sur-Isère plant was presented with an extension project almost a year ago.
«I don’t want things to stay as they are.comments Loire-Atlantique senator Philippe Grosvalet, member of the European Democratic and Social Rally group, reached by telephone. We will approach the ministry to request emergency intervention..” In a press release, La France Insoumise MP Matthias Tavel expressed his indignant reaction to “the unilateral decision of the CEO of EDF” and believes that she “must be withdrawn without delay».
Estimated a year ago at 250 million euros, including 85 million in public funding, the overall bill for Ecocombust has evolved and is now closer to 400 million. This inflation lies in the evolution of the closed-circuit process chosen by Paprec: the “steam explosion” or steam cracking process requires a lot of water, a large part of which would ultimately be extracted from the biomass rather than drawing the resource from the Loire.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
