EDF commissioned France’s biggest hydropower project, the new Romanche-Gavet hydropower plant in the Isère region of south-east France, after ten years of construction work. The new plant has a capacity of 97MW, and will increase hydropower output by 40% along its stretch of the river Romanche. This project illustrates EDF’s commitment to developing hydropower, the largest source of renewable energy in France and Europe. It will produce a volume of power equivalent to annual electricity consumption by the cities of Grenoble and Chambéry (230,000 inhabitants), using a decarbonised and renewable energy source.
The Romanche-Gavet hydropower plant consists of a new dam and a new entirely underground plant deep in the mountain, replacing 6 former plants and 5 former dams. Blending seamlessly into the landscape of the Romanche valley, it is respectful of the environment and preserves biodiversity. Nature has been restored along the banks of the dam by replanting with local species sourced within a radius of 25 kilometres, in order to prevent the spread of invasive plants.
Construction of this facility involved an investment of €408 million, recognised under Property, plant and equipment operated under concessions (see note 16 (2)).
On 8 September 2020, EDF made an offering of green bonds convertible into new shares and/or exchangeable for existing shares (OCEANEs Vertes) with the nominal amount of€2,400 million and an issue value of €2,569 million (i.e. an issue premium of €169 million). The key features of this issue are as follows:
(in millions of euros) | Issue date | Maturity | Issue amount | Currency | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OCEANEs Vertes (see (1) note 33) | OCEANEs Vertes (see (1) note 33) Issue date 09/2020 | OCEANEs Vertes (see (1) note 33) Maturity 09/2024 | OCEANEs Vertes (see (1) note 33) Issue amount 2,400 | OCEANEs Vertes (see (1) note 33) Currency EUR | OCEANEs Vertes (see (1) note 33) Rate 0% |
The issue price for these bonds was €11.70, i.e. 107.00% of their nominal value or a gross annual return of -1.68%. The nominal value of the bonds was set at €10.93 corresponding to a conversion premium of 32.5% over the Company’s reference price on Euronext Paris, the regulated Paris stock market(1).
Holders of these bonds have the right to convert them into new EDF shares and/or exchange them for existing EDF shares.
The conversion and/or exchange rate is set at one share per bond, subject to the standard adjustments including anti-dilution and dividend protections as described in the terms of the issue.
The bonds may be redeemed prior to maturity at the option of the Company, subject to certain conditions.
Unless previously converted, exchanged, redeemed or repurchased and cancelled, the bonds will be redeemed at nominal value when they reach maturity.
These bonds are listed on the Euronext AccessTM market operated by Euronext in Paris.
On 8 September 2020, EDF launched two new issues of Euro-denominated hybrid notes for a total nominal amount of €2.1 billion, consisting of:
These issues are recorded in additional equity (see note 25).
The Company can redeem the hybrid notes for cash at any time during the 90 days before the first interest reset date, which is expected to be in 6.5 years (with a first reset date in March 2027) for the 6.5-year non-call hybrid notes, and in 10 years (with a first reset date in September 2030) for the 10-year non-call hybrid notes, and on every coupon payment date thereafter.
The settlement date was 15 September 2020 and the hybrid notes were admitted to trading on the regulated market of Euronext Paris at that date.
These issues show the Company’s strong commitment to financing through hybrid capital securities, which are a permanent part of its capital structure. The proceeds of the hybrid notes issue are used for general corporate purposes of the Company.
These hybrid notes have been admitted to trading on Euronext Paris.
On 30 October 2020 EDF and Standard Chartered Bank signed a €200 million renewable credit facility. The cost of this facility will be indexed on three EDF sustainability KPIs: EDF’s direct CO2 emissions, electrification of its light vehicle fleet, and use of online consumption monitoring tools by its French residential customers.
The selected KPIs reflect EDF’s major environmental commitments, principally cutting greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) by 50% by 2030 with a view to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and completing electrification of the entire EDF vehicle fleet by 2030.
(1) The reference price is equal to the volume-weighted average EDF share price observed on Euronext Paris between the launch date of the green bond offering until the finalpricing of the bonds was determined the same day, i.e. €8.2465.
