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Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational
electric utility An electric utility is a company in the electric power industry (often a public utility) that engages in electricity generation and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major pr ...
company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2016, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of at least 120
gigawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...
of generation capacity in Europe, South America, North America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. In 2009, EDF was the world's largest producer of electricity. Its 56 active
nuclear reactors A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...
(in France) are spread out over 18 sites (
nuclear power plants A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces elec ...
). They comprise 32 reactors of 900 MWe, 20 reactors of 1,300 MWe, and 4 reactors of 1,450 MWe, all PWRs. EDF was created on 8 April 1946 by the 1945 parliament, from the merging of various divided actors. EDF led France's post-war energy growth, with a unique focus on civil nuclear energy, through reconstruction and further industrialization within the Trente Glorieuse, being a fleuron of France's new industrial landscape. In
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
, following integration to the Common European market, EDF was privatized, although the French state retained 84% equity. In 2017 EDF took over the majority of the reactor business crisis loaded
Areva Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...
, in a French government sponsored restructuration. That same year, following the wish to divest from
nuclear energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity * Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom *Nuclear potential energy ...
, 17 of EDF's French nuclear power reactors were announced to be possibly closed by 2025. However, in 2019, the French government asked EDF to develop proposals for three new replacement nuclear power stations. Following privatization, decades of under-investment and the 2021–2022 global energy crisis and the
Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...
threatening Europe's energy security, the
Government of France The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...
announced the full renationalisation of the company for an estimated cost of €5 billion.


The EDF group


Activities

EDF specialises in electricity, from engineering to distribution. The company's operations include the following: electricity generation and distribution; power plant design, construction and dismantling; energy trading; and transport. It is active in such power generation technologies as
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...
,
hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...
, marine energies,
wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
,
solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...
,
biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
,
geothermal energy Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...
and fossil-fired energy. In November 2022, EDF agreed the acquisition of GE Steam Power’s nuclear activities, which include the manufacture of non-nuclear equipment for new nuclear power plants including steam turbines and the maintenance and upgrade of existing nuclear power plants outside America.


Distribution network (RTE and Enedis)

The electricity network in France is composed of the following: *a high- and very-high-voltage transmission system (100,000 km of lines). This part of the system is managed by RTE (electricity transmission system operator) who acts as an independent administrator of infrastructure, although it is a subsidiary of EDF; *a low- and medium-voltage distribution system (1,300,000 km of lines), maintained by Enedis (ex-ERDF), formerly known as EDF-Gaz de France Distribution. Enedis (ex-ERDF) was spun off from EDF-Gaz de France Distribution in 2008 as part of the process of total separation of the activities of EDF and
GDF Suez Engie SA is a French multinational utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie, which operates in the fields of energy transition, electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear, renewable energy and petroleum. ...
.


Organization


Head office

The EDF head office is located along Avenue de Wagram in the
8th arrondissement of Paris The 8th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le huitième'' ("the eighth"). The arrondissement, ...
. The EDF head office is shared between several EDF sites in Greater Paris.


The directorate

*Chairman and CEO:
Jean-Bernard Lévy Jean-Bernard Lévy (born 18 March 1955) is a French businessman, and the CEO and chairman of EDF. Early life Born on 18 March 1955, the son of a doctor, Lévy attended the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly-sur-Seine. His parents sent him to England for ...


Business


Statistics

*Customers: 37.6 million worldwide in 2015. *2009 Turnover: €63.34 billion (23% from France) – €41.82 billion in 2002. *Profit: €3.96 billion in 2010 – €3.96 billion in 2009. *Net profit: €1 billion in 2010 – €3.92 billion in 2009. *Net Debt: €34.4 billion in 2010 – €42.5 billion in 2009. *Revenue: €75 billion in 2015. *Energy generation: 619.3 TWh in 2015. *Employees: 165,200 worldwide.


Main partners and affiliates

* ''In Europe'': ** United Kingdom: 100%
EDF Energy 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 through ...
, acquired
British Energy British Energy was the UK's largest electricity generation company by volume, before being taken over by Électricité de France (EDF) in 2009. British Energy operated eight former UK state-owned nuclear power stations and one coal-fired power ...
Group PLC, which generates about 20 percent of British electricity, mainly from 8 nuclear plants, 100% EDF Trading ** Austria: 100% Vero ** Belgium: 100% Luminus ** France: 100% of EDF Énergies Nouvelles which in turn owns EDF-RE, formerly EnXco in US, 74.86% Électricité de Strasbourg, 67% Dalkia Investments, 51% TIRU, 50% Cerga, 50% Edenkia, 50% Dalkia International, 50% SIIF Énergies, 34% Dalkia Hdg ** Germany: 100% EDF Ostalbkreis, 100% EDF Weinsberg, 50% RKI ** Hungary: 95.56% BE Zrt ** Ireland: 100% (as EDF Renewables Ireland and subsidiary Wexford Solar Energy) ** Italy:
Edison S.p.A. Edison S.p.A. is an Italian electric utility company headquartered in Milan. The company was established in 1884 and acquired by Electricité de France in 2012. Edison employs more than 5,000 people in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Ch ...
(99.4% of the capital), 100% EDF Energia Italia which sells directly 2.2 TWh to Italy, 100% Edison Next, 40% Finei, 30% ISE ** The Netherlands: 100% Finelex, 50% Cinergy Holding ** Poland: 76.63% Rybnik, 66.08% ECK, 49.19% ECW, 35.42% Kogeneracja, 24.61% Zielona Gora ** Slovakia: 49% SSE ** Spain: 100% EDF Iberica (EDF Península Ibérica, S.A) ** Sweden: 100% Skandrenkraft, 36.32% Groupe Graninge ** Switzerland: 50% Chatelot, 50% Emosson, 14.25% Groupe ATEL, 26.26% Motor Columbus * ''In America'': ** United States: 100% EDF Inc., which controls fully or partially Unistar Nuclear Energy (100%), EDF-RE, formerly EnXco (100%), EDF Trading North America (100%) and Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (50% through a joint venture with
Exelon Exelon Corporation is an American Fortune 100 energy company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and incorporated in Pennsylvania. It generates revenues of approximately $33.5 billion and employs approximately 33,400 people. Exelon is the larges ...
) ** Argentina: 25% Edenor, 45% Sodemsa, 22.95% Edemsa ** Brazil: 100% Lidil, 90% Norte Fluminense * In Asia: ** China: 85% Synergie, 60% Figlec, 35% Datang Sanmenxia Power Company, 19.6% Shandong Zhonghua Power Company ** Vietnam: 56.25% Meco * In Africa: ** Côte d'Ivoire: 50% Azito O&M, 32.85% Azito Energie


History


Status of EDF

EDF was founded on 8 April 1946, as a result of the
nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
of around 1,700 smaller energy producers, transporters and distributors by the Minister of Industrial Production
Marcel Paul Marcel Paul (12 July 1900, Paris — 11 November 1982) was a French trade unionist and communist politician. He was also a Nazi concentration camp survivor and later served as a member of the French parliament. Biography Marcel Paul was a ...
. Mostly a state-owned '' EPIC'', it became the main electricity generation and distribution company in France, enjoying a monopoly in electricity generation, although some small local distributors were retained by the nationalisation. This monopoly ended in 1999, when EDF was forced by a
European Directive A directive is a legal act of the European Union that requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. Directives first have to be enacted into national law by member states before thei ...
to open up 20% of its business to competitors. Until 19 November 2004, EDF was a state-owned corporation, but became a limited-liability corporation under private law (''
société anonyme The abbreviation S.A. or SA designates a type of limited company in certain countries, most of which have a Romance language as their official language and employ civil law. Originally, shareholders could be literally anonymous and collect div ...
''), after its status was changed by statute. The
French government The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...
partially floated shares of the company on the
Paris Stock Exchange Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined market ...
in November 2005, although it retained almost 85% ownership as of the end of 2008. On 22 November 2016, French competition regulators raided EDF offices, looking for evidence that EDF was abusing its dominant position to manipulate electricity prices and squeeze rivals.


Finances

Between 2001 and 2003, EDF was forced to reduce its equity capital by €6.4 billion total because of the performance of subsidiaries in South America and Europe. In 2001, it also acquired a number of British energy companies, becoming the UK's biggest electricity supplier. The company remains heavily in debt. Its profitability suffered during the recession which began in 2008. It made €3.9 billion in 2009, which fell to €1.02 billion in 2010, with provisions set aside amounting to €2.9 billion. In January 2013 the company sold its 1.6% stake in U.S. utility
Exelon Exelon Corporation is an American Fortune 100 energy company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and incorporated in Pennsylvania. It generates revenues of approximately $33.5 billion and employs approximately 33,400 people. Exelon is the larges ...
for $470 million. In March 2016 EDF's Chief Financial Officer, Thomas Piquemal, who had argued that the final investment decision on building
Hinkley Point C nuclear power station Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (HPC) is a two-unit, 3,200 MWe EPR nuclear power station under construction in Somerset, England. The site was one of eight announced by the British government in 2010, and in November 2012 a nuclear site ...
should be delayed for three years, resigned. With EDF's market value halved over the preceding year, the cost of the Hinkley Point C project now exceeded the entire market capitalisation of EDF. In March 2017 EDF offered a €4bn rights issue of new shares to increase capital availability, at a 34.5% discount. The French government committed to purchasing €3bn of the rights issue. Shares prices fell to an all-time low due to the heavy discount on new shares. EDF's net debt at the end of 2018 was €33 billion, but with future obligations such as pension liabilities and costs for managing nuclear waste allowed for, the adjusted net debt was €70 billion. In order to improve EDF's finances, as of 2019 EDF has sold €10 billion of assets, with plans to sell a further €2 to €3 billion of assets by 2021, and shareholders have been allocated new shares rather than cash dividends. Bonds have been issued in Asian currencies to expand sources of funding. It has financial commitments for new builds at Flamanville and
Hinkley Point C Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (HPC) is a two-unit, 3,200MWe EPR nuclear power station under construction in Somerset, England. The site was one of eight announced by the British government in 2010, and in November 2012 a nuclear site ...
. EDF is committed to spending €49.4 billion by 2025 for life extension of its French nuclear reactor fleet, which as of 2019 has an average age of 33 years, to 50 years. In December 2021, EDF had about €43 billion of debt, which investment analysts Morningstar expected to exceed €60bn by the end of 2022. EDF's
credit rating A credit rating is an evaluation of the credit risk of a prospective debtor (an individual, a business, company or a government), predicting their ability to pay back the debt, and an implicit forecast of the likelihood of the debtor defaulting. ...
was downgraded in February 2022.


Energy policy

France is the world's largest user of nuclear power for electricity (78% of French production in 2007). In May 2004, the French
Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
reasserted, in front of the French Parliament, the primacy of nuclear power, much to the relief of labour unions of EDF. In this speech, the minister re-phrased the famous slogan, "We do not have oil, but we have ideas", by declaring: "We do not have oil, we do not have gas, we do not have coal, but we had ideas".
Depleted uranium Depleted uranium (DU; also referred to in the past as Q-metal, depletalloy or D-38) is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope than natural uranium.: "Depleted uranium possesses only 60% of the radioactivity of natural uranium, hav ...
from reprocessing the spent fuel of the 58 French nuclear power plants were exported from
Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
to Russia in the last years and stored in
Seversk Seversk ( rus, Се́верск, p=ˈsʲevʲɪrsk) is a closed city in Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located northwest of Tomsk on the right bank of the Tom River. Population: It was previously known as ''Pyaty Pochtovy'' (until 1949) and ''Tomsk-7'' ...
where it was enriched, and the new fuel was exported back to France. In 2013 EDF acknowledged the difficulties it was having building the new
EPR nuclear reactor The EPR is a third generation pressurised water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome (part of Areva between 2001 and 2017) and Électricité de France (EDF) in France, and Siemens in Germany. In Europe this r ...
design, with its head of production and engineering, Hervé Machenaud, saying EDF had lost its dominant international position in design and construction of nuclear power stations. In September 2015 EDF's chief executive
Jean-Bernard Lévy Jean-Bernard Lévy (born 18 March 1955) is a French businessman, and the CEO and chairman of EDF. Early life Born on 18 March 1955, the son of a doctor, Lévy attended the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly-sur-Seine. His parents sent him to England for ...
stated that the design of a "New Model" EPR was being worked on, which will be easier to build, to be ready for orders from about 2020. In 2016 EDF's chief executive
Jean-Bernard Lévy Jean-Bernard Lévy (born 18 March 1955) is a French businessman, and the CEO and chairman of EDF. Early life Born on 18 March 1955, the son of a doctor, Lévy attended the Lycée Pasteur in Neuilly-sur-Seine. His parents sent him to England for ...
stated that EDF's 2030 strategy increased the emphasis on renewable energy, with a 2030 goal of doubling renewable energy capacity worldwide. He stated "I am convinced that we will still have a centralised and secure system in the future but it will be supplemented by a more intermittent and local decentralised system, in which customers will take charge of their consumption. In readiness for this, we must press on with research into electricity storage and smart electricity systems".


EDF spying conviction

In 2011, a French court fined EDF €1.5m and jailed two senior employees for spying on Greenpeace, including hacking into Greenpeace's computer systems. Greenpeace was awarded €500,000 in damages. Although EDF claimed that a security firm had only been employed to monitor Greenpeace, the court disagreed, jailing the head and deputy head of EDF's nuclear security operation for three years each. Two employees of the security firm, Kargus, run by a former member of France's secret services, received sentences of three and two years respectively.


DDoS attack on EDF site

EDF's website was brought down by DDoS attacks three times in 2011, twice in April and once later in June. The attacks were claimed by the
hacktivist In Internet activism, hacktivism, or hactivism (a portmanteau of '' hack'' and '' activism''), is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change. With roots in h ...
group Anonymous. Three men were later arrested and interviewed on charges of "obstructing functionality of a data processing service", "fraudulent access of a data processing service" and "participation in an association formed with the aim of preparing such infractions". Motivations for the attack were thought to relate to the
Fukushima nuclear accident The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 an ...
in Japan. Unlike Switzerland and Germany, which plan to close down all nuclear reactors at the end of their lifespan, the government of France had no such plans to move away from nuclear power and three months after the Fukushima meltdown, stated a budget increase for nuclear power. The downtime of the EDF website cost the company an estimated €162,000.


Suing No Dash For Gas

In February 2013 EDF Energy sought an estimated £5 million in damages from environmental activists from the ''No Dash for Gas'' campaign that occupied the EDF-owned West Burton CCGT power station in October 2012. It is unusual in the UK for companies to seek damages from protesters. On 13 March 2013, EDF dropped their lawsuit against the protesters, after agreeing a permanent injunction against protesters entering EDF sites.


Absorption of Areva reactor business

In 2017 EDF took over the majority of the reactor business of
Areva Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...
, excluding the fuel business, in a French government sponsored restructuring following financial and technical problems at Areva due to the building of new EPR nuclear plants. The reactor business has been named
Framatome Framatome () is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%), and Assystem (5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water react ...
. In October 2019 French Finance Minister
Bruno Le Maire Bruno Le Maire (; born 15 April 1969) is a French politician and former diplomat who has served as Minister of the Economy and Finance since 2017 under President Emmanuel Macron. A former member of The Republicans (LR), which he left in 2017 to ...
released an audit report on the construction of the heavily delayed and nearly four times over-budget Flamanville 3 EPR development, started by Areva in 2007. The Finance Minister demanded EDF present within a month an action plan for the project, calling it a "failure for the entire French nuclear industry".


Effect of coronavirus pandemic

In April 2020 EDF estimated the economic slowdown due to the
coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
could potentially reduce electricity consumption in France by 20%. EDF estimated annual nuclear output in France would be about 300
TWh TWH or twh could refer to: * Tai Dón language, a language of Vietnam, Laos, and China * Tai Wo Hau station, Hong Kong; MTR station code * Tennessee Walking Horse, a breed of horse * Toronto Western Hospital, a hospital in Toronto, Canada * Tun ...
in 2020 and 330-360 TWh in 2021 and 2022, down from a pre-coronavirus estimate of 375-390 TWh. Some nuclear reactors will likely be taken offline in the summer of 2020. EDF announced it had withdrawn financial targets for 2020 and 2021. A delay of planned 10-year reactor upgrades this year may be necessary. To mitigate the impact EDF is targeting €500 million of cost savings to 2022, and aims to sell €3 billion of assets to 2022.


2021 global energy crisis

As of January 2022, five of its 56 reactors were out of operation due to pipework corrosion and crack problems, with checks being made across the fleet. Consequently, EDF cut the year's output target by 10% and needs to buy electricity on the open market. Also, EDF has to sell a further 20 TWh of power to other domestic suppliers at a reduced price due to the government response to the 2021 global energy crisis. In January 2022, EDF calculated that the increase in reduced price wholesale supply would cost it €8.4 billion (£7 billion), and it withdrew its profit guidance. The EDF share price fell considerably. EDF's debt is about €41 billion, and
Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings Inc. is an American credit rating agency and is one of the " Big Three credit rating agencies", the other two being Moody's and Standard & Poor's. It is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSRO) ...
lowered EDF's credit rating. In late May 2022, when 12 nuclear reactors were offline, EDF increased the estimated earnings reductions for the inspections and repairs to €18.5 billion.


2022 Re-nationalization

On 6 July 2022,
French prime minister The prime minister of France (french: link=no, Premier ministre français), officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister i ...
Elisabeth Borne Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sc ...
announced that "the French government is aiming for a full nationalization of" EDF. Borne "vowed" to limit the impact of the rise in energy prices through the state having "full control over...electricity production and performance.” Borne told parliament, "we must ensure our sovereignty in the face of...the colossal challenges to come." Earlier in 2022, President Emmanuel Macron had "suggested" a renationalization of EDF as well as a "big expansion of nuclear energy in the coming decades" however, in 2021, he had to scrap an "overhaul" of EDF, codenamed "Project Hercules," that would have placed EDF's profitable
renewables Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
sector in a new company, due to opposition by unions and objections raised by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
.


Renewable energies


Plug-in hybrids and V2G

EDF has developed recharging points for the Toyota Plug-in HV in France The French government has contributed $550 million to a partnership by Électricité de France with Renault-Nissan and with
PSA Peugeot Citroen The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...
.


Photovoltaics

In 2018 EDF had plans to invest up to €25 billion in
photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
solar power generation, and introduce green electricity tariffs.


Carbon Intensity


Competitors

As of 2017, EDF still held the business of 85.5% of France's residential customers, though on a slow downward trend.


Main competitors

Apart from foreign producers and distributors, there are some significant competitors of EDF in France, although their market share is weaker in comparison: *
Engie Engie SA is a French multinational utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie, which operates in the fields of energy transition, electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear, renewable energy and petroleum. ...
: the company formed after the merger of
Gaz de France Gaz de France (GDF) was a French company which produced, transported and sold natural gas around the world, especially in France, its main market. The company was also particularly active in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other Europea ...
and
Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boun ...
clearly intends to produce its own electricity, has bought stake in the future
EPR nuclear reactor The EPR is a third generation pressurised water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome (part of Areva between 2001 and 2017) and Électricité de France (EDF) in France, and Siemens in Germany. In Europe this r ...
s and is poised to become the most credible competitor of EDF in the newly liberalised French electricity market; *SNET (Société nationale d'électricité et de thermique): This company is the successor of depleting coal companies and primarily produce thermal electricity (2.5 TWh). Its capital (81%) belonged predominantly to
Collieries of France Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...
and with EDF. A portion of the capital (30%) was sold to Endesa, the main Spanish electricity producer, another portion of 35% was sold in 2004. As of 2008
Endesa Endesa, S.A. (, originally an initialism for ''Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, S.A''.) is a Spanish multinational electric utility company, the largest in the country. The firm, a majority-owned subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, ...
holds 65% of the equity of the generating company Snet; *CNR (
Compagnie nationale du Rhône The Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) is a French electricity generation company, mainly supplying renewable power from hydroelectric facilities on the Rhone. Operations Established in 1933, as of 2009 the company derives most of its power fr ...
): the capital of which is predominantly public, the company exploits 19 hydroelectric plants installed on the banks of the Rhône. Its production of 19 TWh makes it the second largest French producer with 4% of the market. CNR signed a partnership agreement with
Electrabel Electrabel SA is a Belgian energy corporation. It is a subsidiary of French multinational utility company Engie S.A. (formerly GDF Suez). History Electrabel was established in 1905. Its actual name originates from 1990, after the regrouping of t ...
; *SHEM (Société hydro-électrique du Midi): a subsidiary of
SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...
, of which produces about one-third of the electricity used by SNCF. A partnership agreement was signed with Electrabel.


Locally controlled or between local councils

Among the other rivals of EDF, one can count a number of municipally governed companies, known under the generic term 'entreprises locales de distribution' ('local businesses of distribution'), who are electricity producers exploiting EDF's network. The nationalisation of electricity and gas on 8 April 1946, which profoundly changed the French electrical and gas organization, had however acknowledged the right of villages to keep their role in the public distribution of electricity and gas. In 1946, certain firms, villages or groups of villages, did not accept the proposal of nationalisation and created autonomous state controls (who held the monopoly of distribution, until 2004, in their area). To note, contrary to the initial idea, local controllers of electricity, have had, since 1946, the choice to continue to produce electricity. In fact, their production was rather marginal, except in Rhône-Alpes; having often preferred buying the majority of the electrical power from EDF. With the recent opening of the electricity market, local controllers are considering developing, augmenting and diversifying their own production, (e.g. Ouest Énergie, the subsidiary company of SIEDS) and/or diversifying their sources of supply. To date, the number of local businesses of distribution is approximately 170 and holds 5% of the distribution of French electrical power in 2,500 villages. Created by local authorities, they serve about 3 million people and represent 7,000 jobs. Around thirty of them – 9 during creation in 1962 – are federated in a national entity known as ANROC. Several departments are not, therefore, served entirely or partly by EDF, for instance: *
Deux-Sèvres Deux-Sèvres () is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a population of 374,878 in 2019.
, supplied by SIEDS: partnership between local councils of Electricity of Deux-Sèvres; *
Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime () is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on the southwestern coast of France. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square kil ...
, supplied by SDEER: partnership of Electricity and Rural Works of the Department of Charente-Maritime; *
Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,62 ...
, supplied by Gironde Electricity. However, the company was sold to EDF at the beginning of 2000 because it could not financially maintain the damage of the severe weather of December 1999, on its network; *
Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
; *
Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône an ...
.


See also

*
Dirigisme Dirigisme or dirigism () is an economic doctrine in which the state plays a strong directive (policies) role contrary to a merely regulatory interventionist role over a market economy. As an economic doctrine, dirigisme is the opposite of ''lai ...
*
Energy in France According to the International Energy Agency, France has historically generated a very low level of carbon dioxide emissions compared to other G7 economies due to its reliance on nuclear energy. Energy in France is generated from five primar ...
*
Groupe INTRA Groupe INTRA is a French emergency response organization created by the French CEA, and the French nuclear companies Areva and EDF. It maintains a number of emergency intervention teams equipped with high-power radiation-hardened teleoperated mo ...
*
List of French companies A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
* List of multinational corporations


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Electricite De France Electric power companies of France Public utilities established in 1946 Government-owned companies of France Nuclear power companies of France Companies listed on Euronext Paris French companies established in 1946 Energy companies established in 1946 Multinational companies headquartered in France Government-owned energy companies