Brittany CCGT Subsidy Approved
The European Commission has conditionally approved French plans to give aid to Compagnie Electrique de Bretagne (CEB) to build a gas-fired power plant in Landivisiau, Brittany, arguing the measure is "proportionate and necessary" to address security of electricity supply concerns in Brittany.
It launched an in-depth investigation into the support of the Landivisiau power plant 18 months ago to assess its compatibility with EU state aid rules.
In 2012 CEB, a joint venture of French supplier Direct Energie and German turbine-maker Siemens, won a tender to build the gas-fired power plant, construction of which is ongoing. In order to address concerns over the security of electricity supply in Brittany, the tender provides for a subsidy of €94,000/MW/yr over a 20-year period in return for a commitment from CEB to ensure generation when required by the network operator.
"The construction of the Landivisiau power plant in Brittany will help making sure that there are no electricity blackouts in Brittany. At the same time competition on the electricity market is preserved," said EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
Artist's illustration of how the finished Landivisiau CCGT will look (Photo source: Direct Energie)
France demonstrated to the EC's satisfaction that only with the construction of such a plant in Brittany would sufficient voltage be maintained in the northwest of the country's electricity network. However the EC said that competition might be harmed, were CEB to sell its electricity to the national incumbent [EDF]. So it made approval of the subsidy conditional on CEB not selling output from the Landivisiau power plant through long-term contracts to any undertaking with a share of over 40% of the French electricity-generation capacity market.
In a report in November 2016, the EC approved overall national capacity mechanism payment schemes for power generation in 11 member states, including France.
Mark Smedley