"We are digging up a corpse": the Saint-Avold coal-fired power plant is preparing to restart

Silence and coolness still reign amidst the heavy machinery inaugurated in 1981. Only the noise of the repair work resounds which began this summer and will end at the end of September. Cost of the operation: 10 million euros. Some 200 employees of subcontracting companies have been hired for the occasion, specifies Camille Jaffrelo, spokesperson for GazelEnergie, owner of the plant.

"A major overhaul" of the machines is essential to "restart safely" and avoid any technical incident this winter, explains Sylvain Mergen, 55-year-old shift supervisor, from the control room.

He was due to retire this year and agreed to come back, like 67 other employees "happy to be there", according to this former miner employed at the plant since 1997. In total, 68 employees out of the 69 on the site on March 31 came back.

Retired since his 54th birthday, Denis Maury, 60, had already agreed to resume his position as roundsman last winter. Back since the end of August, he makes regular rounds to check that the machine is running smoothly.

hand in pocket

If he felt able to return to work "after six years of vacation". He does not hide it, the generous bonus of 5.800 euros gross per month offered to employees for the winter of 2022/2023 also weighed in the balance.

"To encourage people to come back, you have to put your hand in your pocket", confirms Camille Jaffrelo. "We have increased salaries and given a number of bonuses which double the remuneration of our employees."

“It is a sharing of the cake which seems fair to us”, greets Jean-Pierre Damm, elected to the CSE of GazelEnergie and union representative Force Ouvrière (FO). According to the trade unionist, the next six months of operation of the plant will bring in between 150 and 200 million euros for the company.

Very emitting CO2, the Emile-Huchet power station was to close its doors definitively at the end of March. But the government decided otherwise this summer to secure the country's electricity supply, given the conflict in Ukraine and the setbacks encountered by EDF's nuclear fleet.

There is only one other coal-fired power station, in Cordemais (west), still open in France. In France, more than 67% of the electricity produced is of nuclear origin, the share of fossil fuels being 2020% in 7,5, including 0,3% coal and 6,9% gas.

In the law for purchasing power voted in early August, the government included a measure allowing GazelEnergie to rehire employees this winter. More than half were to retire, and the youngest were to be reclassified within the company's new projects. GazelEnergie plans, among other things, to build a biomass boiler to replace the coal-fired power plant.

“We know that we pollute”

Sylvain Krebs, 46, including 22 years spent managing coal at Emile-Huchet, is to join the team that will work for this future biomass boiler. Coal, black gold which made Lorraine live for almost two centuries, he has "mourned" it.

If he says he is however "happy" to see the tall chimneys rekindle one last time, "we have dug up a corpse", he regrets.

"We know that we pollute," he said, showing the 210.000 tonnes of coal stored on the site. Behind him, the ballet of trucks coming to deliver does not stop and the mound is already about fifteen meters high, a black spot in the middle of this industrial site surrounded by wind turbines planted a few kilometers away.

In total, it will take more than 500.000 tonnes of coal to run the site from October to the end of March.

Because of the war in Ukraine and the shutdown nuclear reactors, Sylvain Krebs is convinced, the plant still has "two years of operation" ahead of it. Because when running at full capacity, it can produce up to 600 Megawatt hours, and is able to supply a third of the homes in the Grand Est region.