EDF Energy is a British integrated energy company, wholly owned by the French state-owned EDF (Électricité de France), with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of natural gas and electricity to homes and businesses throughout the United Kingdom. It employs 11,717 people, and handles 5.22 million business and residential customer accounts.

History

EDF Energy Customers (trading as EDF) is wholly owned by the French state owned EDF (Électricité de France) and was formed in January 2002, following the acquisition and mergers of SEEBOARD plc (formerly the South Eastern Electricity Board), London Electricity plc (formerly the London Electricity Board or LEB),

SWEB Energy SWEB Energy, formerly South Western Electricity Board (SWEB) was a British state-owned regional electricity company operating in South West England which was privatised by the Thatcher government. Although sold many times, the 'SWEB' brand n ...

plc (formerly the South Western Electricity Board) and two coal fired power stations and a

combined cycle A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...

gas turbine power station. In 2009, EDF took control of the

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space * Nuclear ...

generator in the United Kingdom, British Energy, buying share capital from the government. This made EDF one of the largest generators in the United Kingdom. The Development Branch of EDF was formed in April 2004, bringing together the separate infrastructure interests of what were LE Group, SEEBOARD and SWEB. The focus for the Branch is development activity through the participation in major new infrastructure projects, largely in the public sector through Public-private partnership (PPP) and

Private Finance Initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 199 ...

(PFI) type schemes. The electricity distribution (or downstream) networks formerly known as EDF Energy Networks were sold in November, 2010 to Hong Kong-based Cheung Kong Group (CKG), owned by billionaire Li Ka Shing. Later, EDF Energy Networks was renamed to UK Power Networks. In December 2014, EDF sold three small United Kingdom based wind farms with a combined capacity of 73 megawatts to the China General Nuclear Power Group for an estimated £100million. In November 2017, EDF sold its majority stake in five wind farms across Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire for £98million. A release from EDF confirmed that in 2018 the firm lost 200,000 consumers due to them shopping around a competitive marketplace. EDF also found that earnings for its UK business had tumbled by 16.5% to £691million in the year to 31 December. On 4 November 2019 EDF announced the acquisition British start up Pivot Power, who specialise in battery storage and infrastructure for electric vehicle charging. EDF acquired a majority stake in Pod Point, one of the largest electric vehicle (EV) charging companies in the UK, in February 2020. On 31 August 2021, EDF announced the sales of its 1332 MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power station and 49MW battery at West Burton B to EIG. The UK's nuclear stations, run by EDF, reached a milestone in November 2021, clocking up 2000 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity – enough to power all the UK's homes for more than 18 years.

''No Dash For Gas'' action

In February 2013, EDF sought an estimated £5million in damages from environmental activists from the ''No Dash for Gas'' campaign, who occupied the EDF owned West Burton CCGT power station in October 2012, and pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated trespass. It is unusual in the United Kingdom for companies to seek damages from protesters. Environmentalist George Monbiot, writing in ''The Guardian'', said EDF was conducting a

strategic lawsuit against public participation Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits), or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with t ...

, "part of a global strategy by corporations to stifle democracy", and predicted the "disastrous unintended consequences of an attempt at censorship" could result in the

Streisand effect Attempts to hide, remove, or censor information often have the unintended consequence of increasing awareness of that information via the Internet. This is called the Streisand effect. It is named after American singer and actress Barbra Streis ...

and be comparable to the McLibel case. The activists received support in the days since the case became public, with over 6,000 signatures on a supportive petition at Change.org within the first day, and over 64,000 by the time EDF dropped their lawsuit on 13 March 2013, saying that this was "a fair and reasonable solution" after the protesters had "agreed in principle to accept a permanent injunction which prevents them from entering multiple sites operated by EDF Energy".

Electricity generation

Nuclear

Following the acquisition of British Energy in 2009, the EDF portfolio includes eight nuclear power stations. They are seven AGR power stations (

Dungeness B The Dungeness nuclear power stations are a pair of non-operational nuclear power stations located on the Dungeness headland in the south of Kent, England. Dungeness A is a legacy Magnox power station consisting of two 250MWe reactors which we ...

; Hinkley Point B; Hunterston B;

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

; Heysham 1; Heysham 2 &

Torness Torness nuclear power station is a nuclear power station located approximately east of Edinburgh at Torness Point near Dunbar in East Lothian, Scotland. It was the last of the United Kingdom's second generation nuclear power plants to be commi ...

) and one PWR power station (

Sizewell B The Sizewell nuclear site consists of two nuclear power stations, one of which is still operational, located near the small fishing village of Sizewell in Suffolk, England. Sizewell A, with two Magnox reactors, is now in the process of being dec ...

), totalling nearly 9,000MW of installed capacity. In 2007, EDF announced its intention to construct up to four new EPR design reactors; two at Hinkley Point C (currently scheduled to start operation in 2025), two at

Sizewell C Sizewell C nuclear power station is a project to construct a 3,200MWe nuclear power station with two EPR reactors in Suffolk, England. The project was proposed by a consortium of EDF Energy and China General Nuclear Power Group, which own 80% ...

and Bradwell B. EDF plans to build and operate the new plants through its subsidiary NNB Generation Company (NNB GenCo). In August 2014, the company announced it had shut down four of its 15 reactors for a period of eight weeks to investigate potential cracking in the boiler spine. In 2015, EDF announced a ten-year life extension for Dungeness B, initially pushing back the closure date until 2028, although it subsequently ceased production and commenced defuelling in June 2021. In February 2016, EDF announced that it would keep four of its nuclear plants open in the United Kingdom. Heysham 1 and Hartlepool will have their life extended by five years until 2024, while Heysham 2 and Torness will see their closure dates pushed back by seven years to 2030. In November 2020 EDF announced Hinkley Point B power station in Somerset will move into the defuelling phase no later than 15 July 2022.

Wind

As of 2021, EDF owns and operates 37 wind farms including the 59 turbine onshore wind farm at Dorenell in Scotland, and are developing two offshore wind projects at Codling Wind Park in Ireland and Neart na Gaoithe in Scotland. The company have plans for a floating offshore wind development at Blyth and a 22 turbine onshore wind farm Garn Fach in Wales.

Solar energy

EDF develop, operate and maintain solar projects. Sutton Bridge is the company's first solar farm of grid-scale and will be approximately 139 hectares. In 2019 EDF signed an agreement to install solar panels on the roofs of a number of Tesco's largest stores in England.

Fossil fuel

EDF owns and operates one 2,000MW coal fired power station, West Burton A Power Station, located near Retford in Nottinghamshire. Generation at West Burton A power station will end in September 2022.

Energy percentages

In the period from April 2020 to March 2021, the percentage of electricity generated by EDF from each source was as follows: nuclear - 62.1%, renewable - 29%, gas - 7.5%, coal - 1.3% with average intensity of 42 geq/kWh. In 2020, EDF nuclear power plants provided 16.1% of UK total electricity generation, down from 17.3% in 2019. As of 2020 EDF supplied 32.4% of low-carbon energy in the whole UK energy mix.

EDF Renewables

EDF Renewables in the UK is a joint venture between EDF Renewables Group and EDF. In April 2017, EDF Renewable Energy, in a joint venture with EDF, announced the commissioning of the Corriemoillie (47.5MW), Beck Burn (31MW) and Pearie Law (19.2MW) wind farms. Beck Burn was opened in July that year. Also in July 2017, EDF Renewables announced the acquisition of 11 Scottish wind farm sites from asset manager Partnerships for Renewables, with a potential capacity of 600MW. In May 2018, EDF Energies Nouvelles bought the "Neart na Gaoithe" wind farm in Scotland from Irish company Mainstream Renewable Power, following a competitive process. It will produce 450MW. The farm is planned to go online in 2023. EDF Renewables opened its wind farm in Blyth in July 2018, where the individual turbines are connected via 66-kilometre (41 mi) offshore cables to bring the electricity produced onshore.

Sponsorship

EDF is the ‘in Association’ sponsor of Cheltenham Science Festival and have been supporters of the Big Bang Fair since 2015. EDF has sponsored several shows on ITV, including '' Soapstar Superstar'' and ''City Lights''. It also sponsored coverage of the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

in Germany (shared with Budweiser) and coverage of the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

(shared with Peugeot) EDF was the main sponsor of the Anglo-Welsh Cup – the Rugby Union domestic cup for the twelve clubs in the English Premiership and the four Welsh regions – between 2006 and 2009. In July 2007, EDF was confirmed as another Level One sponsor for London 2012 with exclusive branding rights and Olympic team sponsorship for the 2008, 2010 and 2012 games as well as being the official energy provider. In August 2008, EDF formed a partnership with The British Red Cross to help vulnerable people to get support during power failures. In January 2011, EDF took over sponsorship from British Airways of the

London Eye The London Eye, or the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It is Europe's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United ...

, on a three-year deal renaming the London Eye as the EDF Energy London Eye.

Marketing

On 4 January 2008, EDF began advertising on the television through ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and various satellite channels. EDF are using "''It's not easy being green''" as their slogan to target a new greener eco friendly image. In 2009, with

Euro RSCG London Havas London (formerly known as Euro RSCG London) is a London-based integrated advertising agency. It is part of the Havas Worldwide network (formerly known as Euro RSCG Worldwide) network which has 316 offices located in 75 countries throughout ...

, EDF created the Team Green Britain campaign, in which Olympic athletes encouraged Britons to be more environmentally aware. On 2 April 2012, EDF launched an advert, including their new mascot, Zingy. In 2020 EDF launched their new brand purpose focused on tackling climate change and aired a TV advertising campaign promoting their new company ambition and purpose ‘Helping Britain achieve Net Zero’.

Distribution network operators

EDF is an energy supplier for homes across the country. They are not however a distribution network operator.

EDF's main locations

EDF's main offices are located in London, Croydon,

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, Hove and

Barnwood Barnwood is an eastern suburb of Gloucester, lying about from the centre of the city, and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Gloucester, in the Gloucester district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Barnwood was origin ...

in Gloucester.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edf Energy British subsidiaries of foreign companies Utilities of the United Kingdom Electric power companies of the United Kingdom Nuclear power companies of the United Kingdom Energy in England Companies based in London Energy companies established in 2002 Non-renewable resource companies established in 2002 2002 establishments in the United Kingdom Électricité de France