Country France Status Active Address 44360 Cordemais, France Owner Électricité de France | Location Pays de la Loire Nameplate capacity 2,600 MW Phone +33 2 40 44 33 00 Units operational 4 | |
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Primary fuel sub-bituminous coal, oil Similar Provence Power Station, Rance Tidal Power St, Saint‑Nazaire Bridge, Sillon de Bretagne, Hinkley Point B Nuclear P | ||
The Cordemais Power Station is the largest thermal power station in France. It is also one of the country's largest electricity producers and one of the largest thermal power plants in Europe having four generating groups, two coal-fired groups with a capacity of 600 MW each and two oil-fired groups with a capacity of 700 MW each, thus totalling an installed electric generation capacity of 2,600 MW. The power station uses between 1.3 and 2 million tonnes of coal per year imported from South Africa, Poland, United States and Australia using the port facilities located at Montoir-de-Bretagne from where the coal is shipped by barges to the power station.
The power station is located in the western part of France at Cordemais in the department of Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire. With an annual electricity production of 5.7 TWh the station supplies 25% of the electricity used by the Pays de la Loire region and represents one third of the country's thermal electricity production. The station also had another 585 MW generating unit that was decommissioned in 1996. The Cordemais power station has four chimneys of which two have a height of 220 metres (720 ft) being one of the tallest structures in France. The station is fully owned by the French energy giant Électricité de France.
HistoryEdit
The Cordemais power station was commissioned in 1970 with a single oil-fired generating unit with a nameplate capacity of 585 MW. The station was extended in 1976 with another two oil-fired units of 700 MW each, in 1983 with one coal-fired unit of 600 MW and the last electric generating unit was installed in 1984 and consisted of another 600 MW coal-fired unit. The power station functioned at its full capacity of 3,185MW until 1996 when the 1970s built unit was decommissioned and remained with its current capacity of 2,600MW.