PARIS, July 31 (Reuters) - French aerospace group Safran

said on Thursday it had picked France for a new carbon

brakes factory, marking a major investment in its home nation

following a closely watched competition with alternative sites

in the U.S. and Canada.

The partially state-owned company, which builds jet engines

and competes with RTX unit Collins Aerospace to sell

other equipment like brakes and landing gear, said the 30,000

square meter (323,000 sq.ft) facility near Lyon would cost over

450 million euros ($514.4 million) once fully completed.

The announcement, alongside higher mid-year earnings,

confirms a Reuters report on Wednesday that the Paris-based firm

was poised to select France for its fourth such plant following

a politically sensitive contest overshadowed by concerns over

energy supplies.

The outcome of the long-delayed contest is being closely

scrutinised in France, where President Emmanuel Macron has made

re-industrialisation a key political priority, while U.S.

President Donald Trump is pressing Europe to invest more in the

United States.

Such investments have to be planned years ahead because of

the size of the factories, but the long-delayed decision had

become increasingly swept up in energy and trade politics.

Earlier plans to base the site in Lyon, France's

third-largest city, had been scrapped first due to the COVID-19

pandemic in 2020, and then a sharp rise in energy prices

following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In a statement, Safran CEO Olivier Andries acknowledged the

support of state electricity utility EDF in the decision over

where to locate the plant, which will rely on biomethane and

low-carbon electricity.

Energy can account for a third of the cost of making carbon

brakes, and industry sources said Safran had clashed in the past

with EDF over the availability of affordable supplies, though

tensions had eased following a recent change of EDF management.

Safran, which pioneered the use of carbon brakes for both

jetliners and Formula 1 racing cars, said they were lighter and

more durable than traditional steel, allowing airlines to reduce

fuel consumption.

The new site at the Plaine de l'Ain industrial park will

begin operations in 2030 and allow Safran to increase production

by 25% between now and 2037 by joining a network of three

existing sites in France, the US and Malaysia, the company said.

($1 = 0.8747 euros)