EDF Énergies Nouvelles

EDF Renewables (formerly ''EDF Renouvelables'') is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French utility EDF Group, specializing in renewable energy production. As an integrated operator, the Group develops and finances the construction of renewable energy facilities, and manages operations and maintenance for its own account and for third parties.

According to its own figures, the company is active in 22 countries with an installed global capacity of 12,468 MW (as of June 2019), with wind being the largest sector, followed by solar and energy storage. The company is also involved in marine energy.

The company was formerly known as EDF Energies Nouvelles until it was rebranded in April 2018 to its current name, EDF Renewables.

History

In 1990, the Société Internationale d'Investissements Financiers – Énergies (SIIF Énergies) was created by Pâris Mouratoglou, a thermal and hydroelectric power plant development company. The firm in 1999 positioned itself in the renewable energy sector and in 2000, Pâris Mouratoglou sold 35% of SIIF Énergies to Électricité de France (EDF).

In 2002, EDF increased its stake in SIIF Énergies to 50%. Two years later, SIIF became EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN), while maintaining the same capital structure. EDF listed EDF Energies Nouvelles on the stock exchange in 2006. Pâris Mouratoglou retained a 25.1% stake of the capital at that time, while EDF held 50%, the balance being the free float on the stock market.

EDF Energies Nouvelles unlisted from the stock market on 15 August 2011, following EDF's buy-out of the remaining 50% stake from Pâris Mouratoglou and the free float, pushing EDF's stake in EDF Energies Nouvelles to 100%.

International expansion

In 2012, the group increased its involvement in offshore wind energy and entered the markets of Poland, Israel, Morocco and South Africa. A year later, EDF Energies Nouvelles expanded into the Indian market. EDF Energies Nouvelles that year acquired the wind power business of Séchilienne-Sidec (now Albioma) for €59 million. The company entered Brazil and Chile in 2015.

Upon expanding into China in 2016, the company acquired an 80% stake in Hong Kong-based UPC Asia Wind Management, a company specialising in onshore wind power in China. This move was based on a strategy that saw increasing its wind capacity in China by working with Chinese partners on a project-by-project basis.

In April 2017, EDF EN announced the acquisition of a 67.2% majority stake, in addition to convertible bonds, in Futuren, a wind farm operator, valued at around €188 million. In December of that year, EDF launched the Solar Plan, with which the EDF Group hoped to build 30 GW of solar photovoltaic power in France between 2020 and 2035, for an investment of around €25 billion.

In 2018, EDF Energies Nouvelles rebranded to become EDF Renewables to boost international appeal.

In April of that year, the group acquired Luxel, a company specialising in photovoltaic installations, with the acquisition concluding on 1 April 2019.

In 2023, EDF Renewables was operating 12.8 GW of wind and solar capacity.

Core business activities

Onshore and offshore wind power

Wind power is EDF Renewables' main sector with 87% of its total installed capacity distributed mainly in Europe and North America. Wind power is EDF's main growth driver. As of June 2019, the group had a total of 12,468 MW gross in operation and 4,055 MW under construction in 22 countries.

EDF signed a supply contract with the Procter & Gamble Group in 2015 to supply wind power to its North American manufacturing sites. The 123 MW wind farm is expected to help P&G achieve their goal to reduce -emissions by 30% by 2020.

The group is a key player in offshore wind energy, with two offshore wind farms in Belgium (C-Power) and the United Kingdom (Teesside). In March 2019, EDF Renewables acquired stakes in two Chinese offshore projects, the Dongtai IV and V wind farms, that will be delivered in cooperation with Chinese power utility China Energy Investment Corporation (CEI) by 2021.

It is involved in three structuring projects under development in France, won through a government call for tenders, totalling nearly 1,500 MW in Saint-Nazaire, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp.

Photovoltaic sector

The photovoltaic solar sector is EDF Renewables' second largest business sector. It currently has solar energy projects in 13 countries with an installed capacity of 2,423 MW, according to own figures.
In 2016, EDF Renewables opened the Bolero solar power plant in Chile’s Atacama Desert in with a capacity of 146 MW.

One of the company's subsidiaries, French solar panel manufacturer Photowatt, announced to be forming a joint venture with Canadian Solar and EMC Greentech to develop solar panels based on a new technology.

In 2019, EDF Renewables, along with Total Eren and their joint venture EDEN Renewables India, signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to develop four solar power projects in India, with a capacity of 716 MW.

In September 2023, it was announced EDF Renewables North America had sold its 200MW Millers Branch Solar Facility in Haskell County, Texas to the Southern Company subsidiary, Southern Power for an undisclosed amount.

Electricity storage

In March 2018, EDF announced a major electrical storage plan with the objective of becoming the European leader in the sector by 2035, for an investment worth €8 billion over the period 2018–2035.

In June 2018, EDF opened a 49MW battery storage facility in West Burton, UK.

The firm acquired British battery storage start-up Pivot Power in November 2019 for an undisclosed amount.

International operations

Europe

Germany

On 5 July 2017, EDF EN announced the acquisition of Offshore Wind Solutions (OWS), a German company specializing in the operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms, in order to complete its operations conducted through Reetec Gmbh, in which EDF EN acquired a stake in 2007.

EDF began the refurbishment of the Eckolstädt wind farm in Thuringia in December 2018, updating its capacity from 14.5 MW to 34.5 MW when the works are finished.

EDF Renewables acquired wind projects of 300MW under development in Germany from Altus in September 2019.

France

In June 2017, EDF opened the Montagne-Ardéchois wind farm, the most powerful in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. The facility consists of 29 turbines with an installed capacity of 73.5 MW. At the end of June 2017, the Mont-des-Quatre-Faux wind farm project was greenlit by the authorities. Supported by EDF EN in association with the Belgian developer WindVision, it will eventually include 63 wind turbines with a capacity of 3.5 to 5 MW each.

On July 6, 2017, EDF EN Services, an EDF subsidiary operating and maintaining wind and photovoltaic power plants, inaugurated the Villeveyrac (Occitania) regional management centre. It is permanently connected to the European control centre in Colombiers, Hérault, which supervises and controls remotely all the renewable production units managed by EDF EN.

On July 19, 2017, the President of the Occitania Region, Carole Delga, signed a new collaboration agreement with the EDF Group to support Occitania in its ambition to become a positive energy region, including achieving economic development, assisting in the energy transition and providing training and employment. A few days, later, EDF Energies Nouvelles and Naval Energies-OpenHydro launched the construction of the first hydro turbine assembly plant in France at Cherbourg-en-Cotentin

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