State (continue from page 84) of Ivory Coast on 30 November 2017; the concession agreement with the State was signed on 9 December 2019. The final investment decision is scheduled to be made at the beginning of 2021.
In 2019, EDFI became a shareholder in Conergies Group, taking out a 49% stake.The Conergies Group is active in heating, ventilation, and industrial and solar refrigeration in Ivory Coast and Mali through its subsidiaries ARIC and RICA.
In August 2016, the Group created a local subsidiary to support its development strategy in the Ivory Coast.
In October 2016, EDF created the ZECI company, a joint venture with the US company Off Grid Electric (OGE), now known as “Zola Electric”, for the deployment of an off-grid energy project for rural and peri-urban populations (see also section 1.4.5.3.9 “Off-grid energy”).
In October 2017, the EDF group opened a local branch to support its development strategy in this country. Due to insufficient activity, the branch was closed on 30 June 2020.
The Group is also present in Ghana through the ZEGHA company (see also section 1.4.5.3.9 “Off-grid energy”).
The EDF group engages in development and project monitoring activities in theMiddle East, and has a regional office based in the United Arab Emirates covering business in the region. In addition, the Group has offices in Qatar (Doha), SaudiArabia (Riyadh), Lebanon (Beirut), Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabiand Dubai).
These offices generate commercial business and projects in these countries, wherethe main challenge in the coming years is to make progress in the post-petroleumenergy transition.
The major projects in the zone are located notably in the United ArabEmirates with, in 2020, in Abu Dhabi:
Other major projects are located in Dubai with the customer DEWA (in charge of water and electricity in the Emirate):
Also in the UAE, the EDF group has sought to establish a long-term relationship with Nawah, the operator of the Barakah nuclear plant and subsidiary of Émirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC). On 21 November 2018, EDF and Nawah signed along-term master agreement under which EDF will assist Nawah with the operation and maintenance of the Barakah plant through various services such as safety, radiation protection, fuel cycle management and environmental monitoring.
Another major engineering consultancy project for the customer Kahramaa (water and electricity in Qatar) is currently being conducted in Doha, along with the construction of substations and high-voltage power line networks (this project being part of “phase 13”).
In 2014, in Saudi Arabia, the EDF group signed a partnership agreement with theSaudi Electricity Company (SEC), the country’s benchmark electricity operator, enabling a broad cooperation between the two groups, including training initiatives.In the extension of this agreement, the two GOC (Generation, Optimisation Center)contracts signed in 2016 and 2019 provide for support by EDF for the implementation of regional generation optimisation centres.
In addition, via its subsidiary EDF Renewables in partnership with Masdar, EDF won a2019 call for tender for the financing, construction, and operation of the first wind power project in Saudi Arabia, with installed power of 400MW, at Dumat Al Jandal (see section 1.4.1.3.3 “Activities of EDF Renewables”). In 2020, in partnership with Masdar and the Nesma Group, EDF Renewables took part in the call for tender launched by Repdo (“Repdo2”). The Group should be awarded a 300MW contract in the Jeddah region.
EDF has had operations in Israel since 2010 through its subsidiary EDF Renewables, which, at end 2020, operates solar power projects connected to the grid with total gross capacity of 383MW, currently has 150MW under construction and confirmed the construction of an additional 157MW in 2021/2022. Furthermore, EDFRenewables Israel won two State calls for tender in 2020, representing approximately70MW of floating solar power projects as well as solar power and storage projects totalling 225MW to be built by 2023. Furthermore, EDF Hydro’s Hydraulic engineering centre supplies services to the first Israeli project for the storage of electricity through pumping, on Mount Gilboa.
The EDF group has more than 15 years’ experience in off-grid power provision inAfrica via companies created for that purpose based on territorial concessions. Since2017, the EDF group has joined forces with innovative startups to supply power and services to customers in rural areas and on urban outskirts in line with their income and needs. Solutions include supplying power to central grids, installing mini-grids and providing solar power kits.
Such services enable more than a million people in South Africa, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal and Togo to light and power their low-consumption household appliances such as a television or a radio, or to recharge their mobile phones. Customers inKenya can buy solar-powered water pumps and thereby significantly improve their crop yields.
The EDF group, via EDF Pulse Croissance Holding with a 17% stake, teamed up with investment firm Meridiam to create NEoT Offgrid Africa with the aim of contributing to financing our energy supply and services solutions.
EDF bought a 50% stake in Bboxx Togo from Bboxx UK in November 2018 to undertake the sale, installation and maintenance of solar kits for rural households in Togo. In addition to the sale of Solar Home System, a partnership for the deployment of solar pumps was set up in 2020 with Kenyan company SunCulture and the Togo government (1).
In South Africa, the KES (Kukhanya Energy Services) company, created in 2002, is 50% owned by EDF, 15% by the local operator, Calulo, and 35% by Total. It initially developed its business through photovoltaic kits in Kwazulu-Natal, and then extended its activities into the Eastern Cape region.
Since 18 July 2018, EDF group has been contributing to the development of Kenyan company SunCulture to support the sale, installation, and maintenance of solar pumps for rural households, mainly in Kenya. EDF assists SunCulture with its international development through a 16.1% stake held by EDFI in Savant Group, the parent company of SunCulture.
(1) See the press release dated 18 December 2020 “Bboxx, EDF and SunCulture work with the Togo government to accelerate access to sustainable farming using solar energy”.
