French coal-fired power plants are living their last days.
Acting on the government's decision to close them by 2022, the GazelEnergie group, which has two, announced on Monday an employment safeguard plan (PSE) leading to the elimination of more than 200 jobs.
"The government's decision leads to the establishment of a reorganization plan leading to the elimination of 219 posts"
, including 98 in Gardanne (Bouches-du-Rhône), 87 in Saint-Avold (Moselle) and 27 at the head office of Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), the group announced on Monday.
The plan has yet to be validated by the state.
Czech coal magnate Daniel Kretinsky bought these two sites from German Uniper in July 2019, nearly two years after Emmanuel Macron announced the closure of power plants shortly after his election in 2017.
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The Gardanne plant has been blocked for two years by a picket line.
The French electricity network no longer relied on it to heat France during the last cold winter.
The coal activity will be closed at the end of the PSE, after the last forced departures, next June.
The section of the power plant running on biomass will be maintained.
It has also been blocked for two years, it must undergo some work and be tested before it can be relaunched.
In Saint-Avold, GazelEnergie plans to close the coal activity only in March 2022.
The group wants to develop two reindustrialisation projects on this site, supported by the public authorities: one for the production of renewable heat from biomass (via the France Relance plan, the investment decision still awaited), the other for production of green hydrogen in partnership with Storengy (a subsidiary of Engie), ie 80 jobs targeted in total.