On 9 May 2022, EDF Renewables commissioned the Group’s first floating solar power plant in Hogla (Israel) on the northern coastal plain. With a capacity of 2MW, the Hogla facility is located on an irrigation reservoir that covers an area of 2 hectares. Hogla is the first connected project of the tenders won by EDF Renewables in the country. Two other projects are under construction in the country, including the Lohamei Hagetaot plant, with a capacity of 20MWp, on 9 basins of a large fish farm.
The first floating photovoltaic power plant on a hydroelectric reservoir in France, the Lazer plant, is scheduled to be commissioned in the first half of 2023. Other sites are currently being studied. Furthermore, several EDF hydro entities are currently developing innovative initiatives and participating in Research & Development programmes in this field.
In the geographical areas operated by Enedis, new medium-voltage (MV) lines are being built underground, using underground or discrete techniques for low-voltage (LV) in compliance with local regulatory requirements and taking into account as much as possible the CO2 impact.
The “BiodiverCity”® certification, a streamlined approach for players involved in sustainable construction (1), was awarded to the EDF La Grande Halle site in Lyon.
EDF’s activity is partially dependent on the availability of fresh water. EDF has worked for years to reduce its water footprint. See section 3.2.3.2.3 “Water quality and reduction of pressure on the environment”. The same applies to raw materials and rare-earth metals (see section 3.2.4 “Radioactive and conventional waste, and circular economy”).
In terms of forest resources, EDF reviewed its Group-wide biomass policy, to include new biodiversity commitments, particularly specifying that neither direct nor indirect deforestation were permitted to meet the Group’s biomass-energy needs.
To enable the Group to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, EDF R&D began work focused on carbon offsetting. The challenge was to favour solutions that promote CO2 sequestration in natural ecosystems. The Group’s initial initiatives are described in section 3.1.1.6 “Carbon offsetting solutions”.
For a full overview of the pollution theme (air, water, soil), see sections 3.2.4 “Radioactive and conventional waste, and circular economy”, 3.2.3.2.3 “Water quality and reduction of pressure on the environment” and 3.3.1.6 “Air quality”.
The environmental policies of the Group entities aim to optimise the use of land and protect soils and subterranean water against any impacts. Land use and subterranean water use is monitored as part of groundwater monitoring (see 3.2.3.1 “Sustainability of water use”) and biodiversity actions (see section 3.2.2 “Biodiversity and responsible land management”).
The prevention of impacts relies on an “in-depth defence” (2) approach, including several levels of security built into the protection methods in place at all industrial sites.
Among the protection methods in place: maintaining the integrity of protection methods; control of effluent and waste management operations; maintaining and inspecting ultimate structures such as retention systems; ensuring that the soil surface remains free from radiological and chemical contamination; reinforcing safeguard measures when transporting fuel or waste; ensuring the availability of emergency kits and carrying out the corresponding drills. EDF also carries out physicochemical and radiological monitoring of the quality of subterranean water at sites by means of a dense network of piezometers (see section 3.2.3.2.3 “Water quality and reduction of pressure on the environment”).
For years, EDF has adopted a proactive approach to checking the quality of soil, sub-soil and subterranean water on different production fleet sites (thermal and nuclear).
The actions undertaken include: identifying activities likely to have an impact on the quality of soil and groundwater; setting up a piezometric monitoring network on and around the installations, and carrying out management measures if necessary.
Contributing to the work of the ministry in charge of the environment as well as in standardisation bodies; centralised technical support for the different entities of the Group on soil and groundwater issues; annual training on soil management and groundwater sampling; research and development actions with institutional partners (concrete management, use of soil data, etc.), organising meetings to pool experiences, and for the nuclear sector, setting up shared practices for soil and groundwater.
Ahead of its goals, and since July 2022, Enedis will no longer use phytosanitary products to maintain Source Substations (3), except for zones where treatment is necessary for security reasons (HVB zones). For new Source Substations, experiments are ongoing in the Aude, Aveyron, Drôme, Puy de Dôme and Lozère with a view to building Source Substations using Zero Phytosanitary products.
By the end of 2022, EDF had stopped using phytosanitary products on all areas of the mainland industrial sites, on areas that are not sensitive to safety and security issues (DIG). Other entities no longer use these products (4).
Preventing light pollution
(1) cibi-biodivercity.com/biodivercity/
(2) This involves three levels of protection: prevention, to avoid failures. Monitoring, to anticipate failure or detect it immediately, and control, to limit the consequences of a failure.
(3) Industrial electrical structure at the junction of high and medium voltage power lines.
(4) Cyclife, Edison, Luminus, EDF Norte Fluminense; ÉS no longer uses any glyphosate-based products.
