French state energy company EDF is scrapping its biomass conversion project at the Cordemais thermal power plant as it has not met “technical and economic conditions”.

The project, which aimed to replace coal with wood pellets to produce power, began in January 2022.

EDF said in a statement on Tuesday (24 September) that it “will not be able to completely substitute coal with pellets” as planned but “salutes all the efforts made by the teams working on this project”.

Under the new plans, EDF will stop electricity production at the Cordemais thermal power plant in 2027.

EDF subsidiary Framatome is planning to construct a prefabrication plant on the retired Cordemais site to manufacture the main secondary piping system for its EPR2 nuclear reactors. The secondary circuit pipes bring steam from the generators to the turbine.

According to the company, it is already carrying out feasibility studies for the plant on site.

The new plant operation would employ around a 100 staff at the outset, rising to 200 at peak operation.

The company said: “This is an essential step in the completion of the construction programme. The EDF group and its subsidiary Framatome are already undertaking feasibility studies for its installation on this site and are starting a dialogue with all the stakeholders concerned.”

EPR2 will be a simplified version of the EPR design. Framatome and EDF will utilise experience of designing, building and commissioning the EPR reactor to build the new design.

In 2021, EDF submitted a proposal to the French Government for the construction of the new EPR2 reactor. It plans to build three pairs of EPR2 reactors at Penly, Gravelines and either Bugey or Tricastin.

The EPR2 reactors will make up a key part of France’s “nuclear renaissance” plans, which were initially laid out in 2022. French President Emmanuel Macron hopes the construction of the first EPR2 reactor will commence before the end of his current term in May 2027.