New products are also being developed to meet the needs of local populations, particularly solar-powered pumps, and it wishes to accelerate the development of mini-grids.
The International Division launched a programme to supply 5,000 solar-powered water pumps to the Togo through its subsidiary Bboxx. EDF Togo has partnered with the Togolese State, which will subsidise part of this programme, designed to help small farmers in rural areas suffering from the effects of the Covid pandemic.
An EDF R&D project is specifically dedicated to assessing and testing energy access technologies, that are then rolled out by EDF’s International Division with its partners in various African countries. EDF R&D is continuing its research into microgrids, for are liable, low-cost mass production meeting local needs, for local markets. In 2020, R&D continued its development of two digital energy access tools. The first aims to define optimal strategies between the extension of existing networks, development of independent microgrids and individual solutions (solar kits). The second aims to identify the best areas for a commercial development of solar kits, in Africa orSouth-East Asia. EDF R&D, through its EIFER centre in Germany, is also involved in the European LEOPARD project to disseminate microgrids in Africa, with a prototype to be tested in villages in Benin.
Most major EDF projects, especially those in Africa and Asia, are designed to improve access to electricity on a local, regional and national scale.
The hydroelectric dam project In Nachtigal, Cameroon, meets the country’s growing demand for electricity with a sustainable low-carbon solution, and a very competitive electricity generation cost. The project is a national priority for securing Cameroon’s electricity system.
The EDF group also supports energy access across the globe in the form of sponsorship, through its Foundation. The Foundation supported 39 projects run by non-profits for which electricity aids in access to water, health, education and development, by providing them with a combination of funding and technical expertise from the Group’s employees, for a total amount of €1.5 million.
Internationally, the EDF Foundation helps to improve educational conditions (access to modern teaching tools, provision of evening tutoring, continued teaching even during periods of low amounts of sunshine) and increase the number of children attending school (school canteens, accommodation centres, etc.) mainly by providing schools with power. The Foundation supported five such projects in 2020 representing 5,630 beneficiaries a year, including:
These projects are developed by French associations for the benefit of local communities in developing countries.
The “De l’énergie pour informer sur la Covid” Covid information project run with the SunPower association equipped 50 health centres in Togo with photovoltaic kits, providing them with lighting and access to information through televisions and radios. The effectiveness of the Emergency Fund quickly set up to tackle the health crisis meant that these 50 kits could be installed in June 2020, helping medical staff to inform rural populations about the virus and the importance of protective measures and treat them in better conditions.
The Group is committed to contributing to the development of the industrial sectors needed for the energy transition (marine energies, offshore wind power, floatovoltaics, batteries, hydrogen, etc.) or their revitalisation (nuclear) by redeploying the necessary skills, developing skills and setting up support, retraining and protection schemes for employees for a just transition.
The excell plan aims to enable the French nuclear industry to restore the most stringent standards and the highest levels of quality and excellence to be at the forefront of nuclear projects. This is a major priority as nuclear power still has an important role to play in tackling climate change, as it is a low-carbon power source.The commitments made in December 2019 have either been met or are on track. The EDF group and the nuclear sector have made 25 new commitments for mid-2021 (see section 1.4.1.1.1 “The excell plan”: improvement priorities).
Given the specific challenges in terms of skills and quality, a welding plan has been created, to support the training and qualification of welders employed to work on nuclear sites. EDF and the entire nuclear sector are now entering the second phase of the excell plan, involving an effective roll-out in plants, engineering centres, sites and nuclear power plants.
Skills are a key component of this plan and much progress was made in 2020, along with commitments for the future, including:
These initiatives will be further strengthened and stepped up under the stimulus package, as €100 million is earmarked to provide the critical skills needed for the future (particularly in welding) and support the industrial modernisation of the sector (modernisation of industrial capacities, support for relocation projects).
2020 was marked by the closure of the Fessenheim site and also by the closure of various service sites. All employees affected by job cuts are given specific support. They benefit from specific schemes in terms of priority mobility (individual personalised support and financial support), external career plans and pre-retirement paid leave.
Plant closures are implemented with measures to redeploy employees within the Group and initiatives to develop new local economic activities, to offset the loss of jobs and tax revenues in the affected municipalities. For example, the closure of the Aramon thermal power plant in the Gard department, shut down in 2016, led to the creation of a 5MWp photovoltaic plant and the implementation of a programme to step up the development of start-ups for the local energy transition, called CleanTechBooster, supported by an ecological transition contract signed with the State. Likewise, the plans for the decommissioning of the thermal power plant, scheduled to take ten years, involved a consideration of how best to involve small local companies in the calls for tenders process and achieve a recovery and recycling rate for the plant’s materials of more than 95% (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”).
