“Well-being” is at the very heart of EDF’s raison d’être. Its commitments in this area affect many aspects related to the safety of its facilities and the action taken to protect the health and safety of all its stakeholders. The action taken for its customers, partners and civil society to tackle the health crisis is explained in the introduction to this chapter (“EDF, a responsible approach to tackling the health crisis”).
EDF group’s low-carbon generation has positive impact on air quality (see section 3.3.1.5 “Air quality”), and the electricity generated offers consumers a comfort that contributes to solving major public health challenges (cold chain, lighting, indoor air, indoor circulation, etc.). To ensure a use in the safest conditions, EDF has recently updated its long-standing information and awareness-raising schemes(1).
More specifically regarding acoustic risks, the Group endeavours to prevent and mitigate impacts in terms of noise pollution. For electricity generation, acoustic studies are conducted from the initial design stage and are included in environmental impact studies. A special community has been set up (“Code Tympan”), based on a digital modelling system available as open-source software within the Group. Acoustic measurement campaigns are run in the area surrounding nuclear power plants, at a rate of two sites per year, and the results are presented to LocalInformation Committees.
EDF Renewables also performs acoustic studies from the initial development phase and the noise levels of turbines form part of the selection criteria for machinery. The same level of attention is given to noise pollution in the Group’s international and French subsidiaries. For example, Électricité de Strasbourg’s fleet now includes electric aerial lift trucks.
All new transformers purchased by Enedis(2) now use low-noise air coolers.
With regard to the action taken to prevent light pollution, Citelum has implemented a system of sensors to adjust the intensity of lighting on the road network based on traffic density and driving speeds, which also improves car safety.
Awareness-raising initiatives tackling light pollution are periodically implemented locally, for example a recent partnership with “les jours de la nuit” (dark skies) on Réunion Island.
Sales offerings promoting well-being, home comfort and health include advice, works, support for facility management and also targeted offers. The edf.fr website provides a wide range of information to improve occupants’ thermal comfort and well-being. EDF facilitates work designed to enhance comfort by establishing relations with qualified partners (EDF’s Économies d’Énergies partners) and helping to finance the work. In terms of facility management, Sowee offers residential customers a connected system capable of controlling their heating, analysing air quality, weather, traffic and pollution. Dalkia has deployed SERENIS, an offer dedicated to healthcare facilities (heating, air-conditioning, etc.), ensuring both facilities’ regulatory compliance and the implementation of health risk management procedures(3).
EDF is changing its fossil generation fleet, in its ambition to “Reduce air emissions of SO2, NOx and dust from the Group’s fossil-fired thermal fleet by 50% between 2005 and 2020(4) ".
The EDF group is continuing its scheduled shutdown of its fossil-fuel fired facilities (see section 3.1.1.3.1 “Coal-fired power generation, currently representing 0.4% of the total power generation, to be reduced to 0 by 2030”).
In parallel, the EDF group is continuing its process of modernising and improving the environmental performance of its thermal fleet, until it meets European best available techniques requirements. Modernisation work was carried out this year on the Fenice Poland facilities. Regarding island systems, actions are taken to reduce NOx, on a case-by-case basis: optimising exhaust gas processing, or reducing the number of hours of operation for certain turbines. In Brazil, the emission levels of the CombinedGas Cycle power plant in Norte Fluminense are below its NOx limit of 25 ppm, mainly due to the high level of equipment maintenance. Using its future exhaust gas processing system, the Edison CGC project in Italy, Marghera Levante (780MW with 63% efficiency), which should be commissioned in 2022 to replace two old facilities, will emit a quantity of NOx equivalent to 30% of the current facility’s limit.
EDF is continuing to test biofuels (low-sulphur fuels) to replace fossil fuels (liquid biomass to power a motor in Molène, France, and the power plant in Jarry, Guadeloupe) and is also developing an alternative fuel made from wood waste to fuel boilers in Cordemais, France(5). At the same time, EDF is developing non-NOx and SO2 emitting technologies and proposes, in the island systems, isolated 100% renewable energy systems in addition to the initiatives for controlling energy demand and saving energy.
In 2020, these actions resulted in emissions of 17,000t of SO2, 30,000t of NOx and 3,000t of dust at the Group level.
SO2 and NOx | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SO2 | NOx | Dust | SO2 | NOx | Dust | SO2 | NOx | Dust | |
| EDF group | EDF group 2018 21 | EDF group 2019 45 | EDF group 2020 3 | 18 | 36 | 3 | 17 | 30 | 3 |
| EDF | EDF 2018 4 | EDF 2019 16 | EDF 2020 0,2 | 4 | 10 | 0,4 | 3 | 9 | 0,2 |
*The methodological details associated with these data are explained in section 3.7.2.3 "Further details on environmental, social and societal data from the Statement of non-financial performance".
(1) Various schemes have been set up in all relevant Group structures in France, Italy, the United Kingdom, etc. For example, EDF systematically sends a safety instruction booklet to all customers who take out a natural gas subscription. These instructions can be accessed on the edf.fr website. Enedis also develops partnerships with organisations representing the main high-risk groups to raise awareness of the risks of fishing near power lines, or to boost cooperation in the prevention of risks relating to firefighting work near power grids. Overseas, EDF in the UK informs its customers of the potential dangers of electricity in newsletters or on the back of bills. EDF in the UK also has atoll-free number to inform its customers about safety practices. Specific action is taken regarding the most vulnerable customers to promote their health, particularly during the winter period.
(2) Independently managed subsidiary.
(3) Other specific dedicated offers are also available: Sérénis Bloc OP: offer dedicated to healthcare facilities with controlled-environment zones, such as operating blocks.SeniorSolution: an offer developed to help nursing homes achieve energy and economic efficiency.
(4) Target in paragraph 2.3 from the EDF group’s SD policy. In 2005, emissions were 236kt, 209kt and 14kt respectively.
(5) As part of the Ecocombust project.
