Agreement between GazelEnergie and the State for the restart of the Gardanne biomass plant

Shut down for almost a year, the Gardanne biomass plant (Bouches-du-Rhône), the largest in France, will resume its activities in early 2025 following an agreement concluded between its owner GazelEnergie and the State, the company and the government announced on Tuesday, November 26.

"After several months of negotiations and in accordance with the framework defined in the finance law for 2024, GazelEnergie (...) and the State have agreed to restart the plant (...) for an annual operation of 4.000 hours," wrote the company, a subsidiary of the EPH company of the Czech Daniel Kretinsky, in a press release.

With a capacity of 150 megawatts, the Gardanne power station, a former coal-fired power station undergoing conversion, should ultimately supply 6% of the electricity production of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region by consuming 850.000 tonnes of biomass, mainly wood.

It had been at a standstill since the company terminated its contract with the State in the fall of 2023, due to rising biomass costs.

The Minister Delegate for Energy for the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Olga Givernet, revealed on Tuesday morning, during a trip to Gardanne, the amount of the agreement finally reached: 800 million euros over eight years.

An amount that corresponds to "state funding to purchase electricity over 8 years, so that the Provence plant can restart its biomass activity," she told the press. According to Ms. Givernet, the resumption of activity on January 1, 2025 will result in "more than 90 direct jobs and 500 indirect jobs taken over here."

The minister recalled that the State was committed to a "decarbonization of industry, a reindustrialization as well", for which it will have to "rely on solid projects". This announcement comes the day after the decision taken by the steelmaker ArcelorMittal to delay its massive decarbonized steel project in Dunkirk.

Asked about the impact of the plant on deforestation, Ms. Givernet assured that this "biomass use" was "very closely regulated by our environmental code."

In November 2023, the courts gave GazelEnergie one year to carry out an impact study on the indirect effects of its activity, particularly on forests, following a decision to this effect by the Council of State, seized by environmental associations. The highest administrative court then recalled that an industrial site must assess the direct but also indirect effects of its installation on the environment.

GazelEnergie assures that "all the studies are currently being examined by the State services" and underlines that "the carbon footprint of the installation has been reduced by ten compared to coal".