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Électricité de France SA (; ), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational
electric utility An electric utility, or a power company, 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. Electric utilities are ...
company owned by the
government of France The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
. Headquartered in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, with €139.7 billion in sales in 2023, 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 in honor o ...
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 reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...
s in France are spread out over 18 sites (18
nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...
s). 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 Glorieuses ''Les Trente Glorieuses'' (; 'The Thirty Glorious (Years)') was a thirty-year period of economic growth in France between 1945 and 1975, following the end of the Second World War. The name was first used by the French demographer Jean Fourast ...
'', being a flagship of France's new industrial landscape. In 2004, following integration into the European Common Market, EDF was privatized, although the government of France retained 84% equity. In 2017 EDF took over the majority of the reactor business
Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...
, in a French government-sponsored restructuring. That same year, following a 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, the pot ...
, the possible closure of 17 of EDF's French nuclear power reactors by 2025 was announced. By 2022, this decision had been reversed, with the administration of president
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
announcing plans for a "nuclear renaissance", beginning with the projected construction of 6 EPR model 2 reactors with an option for 8 further reactors. Meanwhile, construction is ongoing on EPR model 1 reactors in France and Britain. Following privatization, decades of under-investment, and the 2021–2022 global energy crisis, the
French government The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
announced the full renationalisation of the company for an estimated cost of €5 billion, which it completed on 8 June 2023.


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 by ...
,
hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...
,
wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...
,
solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...
,
biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...
,
geothermal energy Geothermal energy is thermal energy extracted from the crust (geology), crust. It combines energy from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay. Geothermal energy has been exploited as a source of heat and/or electric power for m ...
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. The acquisition was completed on 31 May 2024, and
GE Power GE Power (formerly known as GE Energy) was an American energy technology company owned by General Electric (GE). In April 2024, GE completed the spin-off of GE Power into a separate company, GE Vernova. Following this, General Electric ceased t ...
's nuclear business is now known as
Arabelle Solutions Arabelle Solutions, formerly GE Alstom Nuclear Systems, or GEAST, for ‘''GE Alstom''’, most of which was spun off from GE Steam Power, is a French multinational specialising in nuclear activities related to steam turbines (''Arabelle'') ...
.


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 (stylised in all caps as ENGIE) is a French multinational electric utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie. Its activities cover electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy ...
.


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 Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le huitième'' (). The ar ...
. The EDF head office is shared between several EDF sites in Greater Paris.


The directorate

*Chairman and CEO: Bernard Fontana


Business

*As a major player in energy transition, the EDF Group is an integrated energy company active in all businesses: generation, transmission, distribution, energy trading, energy sales and energy services, and is gaining over 143.5 billion euros, with over 37.6 million customers worldwide, in 2015. *In April 2024, EDF reorganised its nuclear business in preparation for planned government investment to construct six new EPR2 reactors to operate from 2035.


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, acquired British Energy, 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. (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 the Americas'': ** 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 public utility headquartered in Chicago, and incorporated in Pennsylvania. Exelon is the largest electric parent company in the United States by revenue and is the largest regulated electric utility in the Uni ...
) ** 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 contrasts with priv ...
of around 1,700 smaller energy producers, transporters and distributors by the Minister of Industrial Production Marcel Paul. Mostly a state-owned ''
EPIC Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...
'', 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 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 languages, Romance language as their official language and operate a derivative of the 1804, Napoleonic, civil law (legal syste ...
''), after its status was changed by statute. The
French government The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
partially floated shares of the company on the
Paris Stock Exchange Euronext Paris, formerly known as the Paris Bourse (), is a regulated securities trading venue in France. It is Europe's second largest stock exchange by market capitalization, behind the London Stock Exchange, as of December 2023. As of 2022, th ...
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 public utility headquartered in Chicago, and incorporated in Pennsylvania. Exelon is the largest electric parent company in the United States by revenue and is the largest regulated electric utility in the Uni ...
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 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. 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). It is the practice of predicting or forecasting the ability of a supposed debtor to pay back the debt or default. The ...
was downgraded in February 2022. In February 2024, EDF took a €12.9 billion impairment charge on cost overruns building the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, and a further €1.1 billion later for inflation.


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 (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...
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. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...
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 Uranium-235, 235U than natural uranium. The less radioactive and non-fissile Uranium-238, 238U is the m ...
from reprocessing the spent fuel of the 58 French nuclear power plants were exported from
Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
to Russia in the last years and stored in
Seversk Seversk (, ) is a closed city in Tomsk Oblast, Russia, located northwest of Tomsk on the right bank of the Tom River. The population was 108,590 at the 2010 census and 109,106 at the 2002 census. It was previously known as ''Pyaty Pochtovy' ...
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 Generation III reactor, Generation III+ 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 by Siemens in G ...
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 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 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. Charges were mostly dismissed in appeal in 2013.


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 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. A form of Internet activism with roo ...
group
Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...
. 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 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. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...
, 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) (80.5%) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs ...
. In October 2019 French Finance Minister
Bruno Le Maire Bruno Le Maire (; born 15 April 1969) is a French politician, writer, and former diplomat who served as Economy and Finance Minister from 2017 to 2024 under President Emmanuel Macron. A former member of The Republicans (LR), which he left in ...
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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
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 stress corrosion cracking crisis

In October 2021,
stress corrosion cracking Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is the growth of crack formation in a corrosive environment. It can lead to unexpected and sudden failure of normally ductile metal alloys subjected to a tensile stress, especially at elevated temperature. SC ...
in stainless steel safety system piping was discovered, eventually requiring rolling fleet-wide shutdowns for inspections and repair during 2022 and 2023. This reduced electricity production in 2022 to 279 TWh, 82 TWh less than expected, with a continuing shortfall in 2023. To meet demand, EDF had to buy electricity on the European market at high prices, costing an estimated
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...
29 billion to June 2023. 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.


2021 global energy crisis

EDF had 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 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...
. 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. It is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSRO) designated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is considered as being one of the " Bi ...
lowered EDF's credit rating.


2022 Re-nationalization

On 6 July 2022,
French prime minister The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime m ...
Élisabeth Borne Élisabeth Borne (; born 18 April 1961) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from May 2022 to January 2024. A member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance (French political party), Renaissance, she is the secon ...
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 sector in a new company, due to opposition by unions and objections raised by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
. In March 2023, EDF created the Nuward subsidiary to design and manufacture a
small modular reactor The small modular reactor (SMR) is a class of small nuclear fission reactor, designed to be built in a factory, shipped to operational sites for installation, and then used to power buildings or other commercial operations. The term SMR refers t ...
, for construction from 2030. In July 2024, EDF announced it was discontinuing the existing design, and will work on an SMR design based on existing rather than innovative technologies, following discussions with prospective SMR customers. In January 2025, EDF announced that the new Nuward conceptual design would be completed by mid-2026 to come to market in the 2030s, with an output of about 400 MWe and usable heat output 100 MWt. In May 2024, EDF raised a loan of €5.8 billion over 3-5 years to finance the life extension of its older 900 MWe reactors by 10 years beyond 40 years. The loan is part of EDF's Green Financing Framework which is in accord with the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities which allows for private-public financing.


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.


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 commerciall ...
solar power generation, and introduce green electricity tariffs.


Carbon Intensity


Tidal farms

* Paimpol–Bréhat tidal farm


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 (stylised in all caps as ENGIE) is a French multinational electric utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie. Its activities cover electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy ...
: the company formed after the merger of Gaz de France and
Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...
clearly intends to produce its own electricity, has bought stake in the future
EPR nuclear reactor The EPR is a Generation III reactor, Generation III+ 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 by Siemens in G ...
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 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 holds 65% of the equity of the generating company Snet; *CNR ( Compagnie nationale du Rhône): 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; *SHEM (Société hydro-électrique du Midi): a subsidiary of
SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...
, 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 (, Poitevin-Saintongese: ''Deùs Saevres'') 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 ...
, supplied by SIEDS: partnership between local councils of Electricity of Deux-Sèvres; * Vienne, supplied by SIEEDV: partnership between local councils of Electricity and Works of the Department of Vienne; *
Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Chérente-Marine''; ) is a Departments of France, department in the French Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on the country's west coast. Named after the river Charente (river), Charen ...
, supplied by SDEER: partnership of Electricity and Rural Works of the Department of Charente-Maritime; *
Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.
, 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 (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
; *
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 a ...
.


Security

Enedis was one of the first companies to carry out preventive maintenance on these wooden poles, with the aim of safeguarding the safety of its personnel, in particular with the Polux tool, which has become its reference standard.


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 or non-interventionist role, over a market economy. As an economic doctrine, dirigisme is the opposite ...
* Energy in France * Groupe INTRA *
List of French companies France is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in western Europe, as well as Overseas France, several overseas regions and territories. A member of the Group of Seven, Group of 7 (formerly G8) leading industrialised countries ...
*
List of multinational corporations This is a complete list of multinational corporations, also known as multinational companies in worldwide or global enterprises. These are corporate organizations that own or control production of goods or services in two or more countries other ...
* Nuclear fuel cycle in France


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 formerly listed on Euronext Paris French companies established in 1946 Energy companies established in 1946 Multinational companies headquartered in France Government-owned energy companies