June 2, 2025 - French utility EdF has announced plans to "definitively" shut down its 1.2GW Cordemais coal-fired plant by the end of the first quarter of 2027 and build a manufacturing site for nuclear parts in its place.

The plant's remaining two 600MW units will be decommissioned on 31 March 2027. EdF also plans to build a prefabrication facility for nuclear piping at the site that should be operational by the end of 2028, the utility said.

The utility intended to convert the plant to biomass-fired generation, but ceased conversion plans owing to "technical-economical" conditions. According to the utility, extension of the 40-year-old plant's lifetime would be expensive and probably unreliable during peak hours, when it would be most profitable.

The Cordemais plant generated a total of 244GWh last year, while the country's only other remaining coal-fired plant, the 600MW Saint Avold, had total output of 349GWh over the same period. Saint Avold's operator previously announced that it intended to convert the plant to gas-fired operation, the law for which was passed by parliament last month.