Paris (AFP)

The German industrial conglomerate Siemens announced Wednesday it received a formal order of nearly 450 million euros to build a gas plant in Landivisiau (Finistère), a project led by Total Direct Energie and challenged by environmental associations.

"Siemens will build a new turnkey combined cycle power plant in Landivisiau" and "will also operate and maintain the facilities for a period of twenty years," the group said in a statement.

The two contracts were signed in July, said a spokesman for Siemens in France at AFP.

The commissioning of the 446 MW power station is planned "for the second semester of 2021," says Siemens. It was supposed to start at the end of 2016.

The project was launched by the alternative energy provider Direct Energie, since acquired by the oil and gas giant Total and renamed Total Direct Energie.

Siemens held a 40% stake in the project during the development phase and then sold its stake to Total Direct Energie, says the German company.

The gas-fired plant is the subject of opposition from environmental groups, which notably highlight the presence of a protected species, the Quimper snail, on the site chosen, while evoking a project "useless" and " expensive".

The Administrative Court of Appeal of Nantes had rejected in July the request of one of these associations, Force 5, to cancel the ministerial decree of 2013 authorizing the construction. Force 5 then announced its intention to appeal to the Council of State.

With no nuclear power plant, Brittany produces only about 10% to 15% of the electricity consumed there and imports most of the neighboring regions. To remedy this situation, a Breton electricity pact concluded in 2010 provided for new sources of electricity production, including the future power plant at Landivisiau.

The situation in Brittany is further complicated by the planned closure by 2022 of the Cordemais coal plant (Loire-Atlantique), while the EPR nuclear reactor project in Flamanville (Manche) is accumulating delays.

© 2019 AFP