Thermal generation assets have a number of advantages: they are very responsive and flexible (quick to start up and power can be modulated), and they have relatively low investment costs and short construction times.
Thermal generation assets are one of the key components of the energy mix to ensure the balance of generation and consumption in real time by accommodating fluctuations in electricity consumption and renewable energy generation (sun and wind power in particular). They are used to meet mid-merit and peak demand electricity requirements and also help to regulate the system and thereby contribute to maintaining suitable voltage and frequency levels across the grid. This role will increase with the massive inclusion of intermittent generation resources in French and EU electricity systems.
At 31 December 2020, the thermal generation facilities operated by EDF were of different types, both in terms of fuel and power:
Output (en TWH) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fuel | Unit capacity | Number of units in operation at 31/12/2020 | Total capacity(in MW) | Year commissioned | At 31/12/2020 | At 31/12/2019 |
Coal-fired | Coal-fired
580 | Coal-fired
3 | Coal-fired
1 740 | Coal-fired
in 1983 and 1984 | Coal-fired Output (en TWH) 1,04 | 0,8 |
Fuel oil and dual-fuel combustion turbines (gas and fuel oil) | Fuel oil and dual-fuel combustion turbines (gas and fuel oil)
85 | Fuel oil and dual-fuel combustion turbines (gas and fuel oil)
4 | Fuel oil and dual-fuel combustion turbines (gas and fuel oil)
340 | Fuel oil and dual-fuel combustion turbines (gas and fuel oil)
in 1980 and 1981 | Fuel oil and dual-fuel combustion turbines (gas and fuel oil) Output (en TWH)
| |
203 |
1 |
203 |
in 1992 |
| Output (en TWH)
| |
134 |
1 |
134 |
in 1996 |
| Output (en TWH)
| |
125 – 129 |
2 |
254 |
in 1998 and 2007 |
| Output (en TWH)
| |
185 |
2 |
370 |
in 2010 |
| Output (en TWH)
| |
179 – 182 |
3 |
542 |
in 2008 and 2009 |
0,46 | Output (en TWH) 0,2 | |
Combined Cycle Gas Turbine | Combined Cycle Gas Turbine
427 | Combined Cycle Gas Turbine
1 | Combined Cycle Gas Turbine
427 | Combined Cycle Gas Turbine
in 2011 | Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Output (en TWH)
| |
465 |
2 |
930 |
in 2012 and 2013 |
| Output (en TWH)
| |
585 |
1 |
585 |
in 2016 |
7,35 | Output (en TWH) 8,8 | |
EDF’s electricity generation from its thermal power plants in mainland France represented approximately 2.29% of its total electricity generation in 2020. During the same period, this fleet had a total installed operating capacity of 5,525MW.
Thermal generation in 2020 amounted to 8.85TWh with a lower level of operation than in 2019.
In 2020, coal units supplied 1.04TWh, CCGT plants 7.35TWh and oil-fired units 0.46TWh.
Minimizing unplanned outages is the essential aim for facilities such as thermal plants, used for mid-merit and peak generation. The priority for these means of generation required on a variable basis all year round is to ensure maximum reliability and availability. As in previous years, the reliability of the thermal fleet was confirmed in 2020 and is commensurate with EU standards for CCGT and TACs.
The fleet’s adaptability to a sustained level of operation was demonstrated. TACs displayed a very good response rate when called upon to operate by the DOAAT and RTE. In a tense balance between supply and demand, the combustion turbines fully played their role in maintaining the system’s safety.
After having shut down ten coal-fired units between 2013 and 2015, EDF retained three generation plants based on recent technology and located in Le Havre (1 unit) and Cordemais (2 units). A renovation programme for these coal-fired units was completed between 2014 and 2016 in order to improve their reliability and efficiency. They are equipped with flue gas desulphurisation and denitrification systems (90%reduction in sulphur dioxide emissions and 80% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions) as well as dust collectors that trap virtually all dust. These treatment sallow the units to meet environmental regulatory requirements in force since 2016.
Decree 2019-1467 dated 26 December 2019 establishing a cap on greenhouse gas emissions for fossil fuel-fired electricity generation facilities is designed to halt electricity generation using coal by 2022. This legal mechanism makes the operator responsible for deciding whether or not to continue operating such installations after 2022 and makes no provision for compensation.
In this respect, EDF decided to shutdown the Le Havre power plant on 1 April 2021.
However, RTE’s most recent provisional review reveals the need to maintain the Cordemais power plant “until the firm commissioning of the Flamanville EPR”.
The Cordemais plant will be shut down by 2026 at the latest.
In another development, in 2015 EDF launched the Ecocombust project, aimed at developing green fuel (biomass) by recycling wood waste. On 24 January 2019, EDF and the Ministry for Ecological and Solidarity Transition approved a working programme prior to a decision on the Ecocombust project. This work programme should make it possible to make a decision in 2021 on launching the industrialization phase. Fuel manufacture could begin from 2023 onwards. This fuel would be used for industrial heating and/or steam generation installations. It could also be used in co-combustion with a smaller proportion of coal in the Cordemais power plant boilers, thus helping to halt the use of coal for electricity generation.
EDF decided to permanently shut down the Aramon thermal plant on 1 April 2016 and the Porcheville and Cordemais unit 2 thermal plants in the spring of 2017 as they had been scarcely used over the past number of years.
EDF also permanently shut down the last oil-fired unit (Cordemais 3) in the spring of 2018.
EDF commissioned the first Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) plant in France at Blénod in 2011, then two CCGT plants at Martigues in 2012 and 2013 followed by an ext-generation CCGT plant at Bouchain in 2016 in partnership with General Electric. This modernisation of the thermal generation fleet reduces its atmospheric emissions of CO2, nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides.
The CCGTs in Martigues are the result of the repowering of former oil-fired units, apart of whose facilities, such as the steam turbine, the condenser and the water treatment facilities, were reused. The repowering of a unit of this capacity is a first in Europe. The installed capacity of the Martigues site is 930MW and the return is over 50%, markedly higher than the return from coal-fired thermal units, for example.
