French EDF says it is committed to renewable energy and geothermal in its activities
Bouillante geothermal power plant, Guadeloupe (source: OECS)
Alexander Richter
9 Apr 2017
French energy giant EDF has announced a continued commitment to renewable energy, among that geothermal - with the disposal of its geothermal activities in the Caribbean it is a bit unclear what this entails.
At a recent meeting of its Board of Director on strategy related to the first period of the multi-year energy program, French EDF (Électricité de France S.A.) confirmed its commitment on a low-carbon strategy.
EDF’s Board of Directors, considered the draft strategic plan, set out in the Energy Code, which presents the actions that the company undertakes to implement in order to comply with security of supply and diversification of electricity production targets set in the first period of the multi-annual energy program (PPE: Programmation Pluriannuelle de l’Energie) covering 2016-2018 period. In accordance with the Energy Code, the Board of Directors approved its submission to the Minister for Energy.
In this plan, EDF explains the main actions it is deploying in France over the 2016-2018 period. The group’s low-carbon strategy, which is based on three pillars of nuclear energy, renewable energies and energy efficiency services, is in line with the PPE expectations.
Among the focus on nuclear, a decrease in fossil-fuel-fired power generation, and on energy efficiency services, the company will also focus on renewable energy explicitly naming geothermal energy.
What this exactly entails is unclear. In the recent past the company scaled down its geothermal operations in the Caribbean and among others withdrawing from geothermal activities in Dominica in the Caribbean in 2013, and the recent sale of the Bouillante geothermal power plant in Guadeloupe to Ormat.
So it is rather unclear what this means …
EDF is one of the largest integrated electricity companies in the world, active in all areas of the business: generation, transmission, distribution, energy supply and trading, energy services. The company has an approximately 37.1 million customers, of which 26.2 million are in France. The Group generated consolidated sales of EUR71 billion ($76 billion) in 2016. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.
Source: Company release via Global Newswire
