Universal Registration Document 2022

1.4.5.3.8 Middle East

The EDF group engages in development and project monitoring activities in the Middle East, and has a regional location based in the United Arab Emirates covering business in the region. The Group has locations in Qatar (Doha), Saudi Arabia (Riyadh), Lebanon (Beirut), Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi and Dubai).

These locations generate commercial business and projects in these countries, where the main challenge in the coming years is to support them in their energy transition.

The major projects in the zone are located notably in the United Arab Emirates with, in 2022, in Abu Dhabi:

• the finalisation of the financial closing of a $3.8 billion strategic project to be carried out by a consortium ⁽¹⁾, which will develop and operate a high-voltage direct current (HVDC-VSC) submarine transmission system. This is a first in the Middle East and North Africa region. This major project will link ADNOC’s ⁽²⁾ offshore production activities to cleaner, more efficient energy supplied through the Abu Dhabi onshore power grid. The project will reduce ADNOC’s offshore carbon footprint by more than 30%, while supporting the UAE’s “Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative”;
• in 2022, Emerge secured several contracts for projects totalling 150MW of distributed solar power. Emerge is a joint venture created in 2021 by EDF and Masdar, a world leader in renewable energy. In addition, the company develops energy efficiency and public lighting projects. Emerge’s offer is primarily aimed at commercial and industrial customers in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It is thus contributing to the ambitious objectives of these countries in terms of energy transition;
• acting through a consortium ⁽³⁾, a development contract for the financing, construction and operation of the Al Dhafra PV2 solar photovoltaic project. The solar power plant, which will have installed capacity of 2GW, and which is expected to be commissioned by the summer of 2023, will be the most powerful in the world. It should enable the avoidance of 2.4 million tonnes of CO₂ per year;
• the signature of commercial contracts for the design, installation and management of phase 2 of the Abu Dhabi public lighting project (130,000 light points), through a consortium with Engie. The financial closing is scheduled for spring 2023.

Other major projects are located in Dubai with the customer DEWA:

• a development contract for an 800MW solar photovoltaic power plant, called “DEWA III”. EDF, through its subsidiary EDF Renewables, has developed this project alongside Masdar and the customer DEWA (which is in charge of water and electricity in the Emirate). This plant was, at the time of its inauguration in 2020, the largest solar power plant in the world. In August  2021, EDF Renewables and its partner Masdar created Energize O&M Co to operate and maintain the plant. Thanks to the production of DEWA III, 240,000 households in Dubai will be supplied with carbon-free electricity;
• an assistance agreement for the management of a 250MW dam pumping station planned for the Hatta mountains in the Emirate of Dubai, the construction of which has already started, for the customer DEWA (at the end of the first half of 2024);
• an engineering consultancy project for the construction of a 3x233MWe thermal power plant in Al Aweer.

Other projects:

• 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 Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC). In 2018, EDF and Nawah signed a long-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. A second agreement was signed in June 2021 between Framatome and NAWAH for the provision of maintenance services;
• another major engineering consultancy project for the customer Kahramaa (water and electricity in Qatar) is currently being conducted in Doha. It involves the construction of electrical substations and high-voltage cable networks, in particular the evacuation substations for Al Kharsaa, the largest solar power plant in Qatar, which was commissioned in 2022. Several projects of high technical and strategic value including the development of renewable energies and the improvement of the performance of the transmission network have been successfully carried out with this customer.
• Finally, continuing its growth momentum in the region, in June 2022 Dalkia acquired US Chiller Services, a company based mainly in the Middle East and the United States. This company with 330 employees specialises in the operation and maintenance of large refrigeration plants.

The main projects in Saudi Arabia include the following:

• in 2014, the EDF group signed a partnership agreement with the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), the country’s benchmark electricity operator, enabling a broad cooperation between the two groups, including training initiatives. In 2022, EDF won a tender from the SEC to act as Project Management Office (PMO) for the deployment of its distribution network automation project;
• EDF Renewables jointly ⁽⁴⁾ won in 2019 a 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. Commercial operation began in July 2022;
• in 2020, EDF Renewables was awarded, as part of a partnership ⁽⁵⁾, the South Jeddah project in a tender organised by the Ministry of Energy. This 300MW solar photovoltaic power plant is expected to be commissioned in 2023. It will be EDF Renewables’ first solar power plant in Saudi Arabia.

Activity in Israel:

The EDF group has been present in Israel since 2010 through its subsidiary EDF Renewables. At year-end 2022, it operated solar power projects connected to the grid with total gross capacity of 530MW (including floating projects with a capacity of 36MW). It is building additional projects with a capacity of 93MWp, including 38MWh of storage and 18MWh of stand-alone batteries. The subsidiary is preparing for the construction in 2023 of around 70MW of floating photovoltaic projects, 40MW of solar roofs and shades; 100MW of ground-mounted photovoltaic projects associated with storage and 67MW of wind projects. These projects have been won through tenders organised by the State or by local authorities.

Furthermore, EDF Hydro’s Hydraulic engineering centre supplies services to the first Israeli project for the storage of electricity through pumping, on Mount Gilboa.