Description
Country: France
EDF Group
The EDF Group is the world’s leading electricity company and it is particularly well established in the European Union. The activities of the group, through its different affiliate companies, cover the entire electricity business chain including generation, networks, sales & marketing, trading and energy services.
The EDF group is present in 22 countries, where it supplies 40.9 million customers. More than 160 000 employees contribute to the activity (467.6 TWh in 2023), generating consolidated sales of 139.7 Bn€.
In the European Union, EDF is the first producer of renewable energy. With 93% of its electricity production decarbonized in 2023, the EDF Group is nowadays the world’s leading producer of low-carbon electricity and is pursuing its ambition to contribute to carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2023, the carbon intensity produced par the EDF Group stands at 37 gCO2/kWh, down 26% compared to 2022. It’s one of the lowest in the world and six time lower than the European utilities average.
EDF also envisions to become a key player in electric mobility, regarding charging infrastructures and smart charging, and in storage systems, aiming at 10 GW of additional storage around the world by 2035.
The EDF group is a global leader in electricity, integrating the full range of electricity system activities.
EDF has a unique experience and expertise in the upstream and downstream electricity chain, which is essential to making a decisive contribution to meeting energy infrastructure needs in Europe and the rest of the world. This presence in all the major electricity-related activities enables EDF to cover the full complexity of electricity systems.
EDF R&D
R&D is at the heart of EDF Group’s major challenges. It covers all trades and activities of the energy sector. It provides day-to-day support to the business lines and subsidiaries in line with the EDF Group’s Cap 2030 project. Researchers are driven by two missions: improving performance in all today’s activities and preparing for the future by working on breakthrough technologies.
With 1800 researcher in France and 223 abroad, 150 PhD students, 60 senior researchers and a budget of 706 M€ (2023), EDF R&D has an extensive experience in collaborative research projects gained through joint laboratories and research centres worldwide (currently 14), and the participation in numerous European R&D projects and within various thematic programs. The expertise of EDF R&D researchers is widely recognized with proven results as patents, scientific papers, contribution to standardization activities, international working groups and dozens of PhD thesis concluded per year.
EDF R&D missions are focused on three areas: (1) consolidation of the low carbon generation mix, (2) prepare the electricity system of tomorrow, (3) develop and test new energy services for customers.
EDF has built Concept Grid, a laboratory dedicated to the test and validation of smart grid equipment, systems and functions. It is located on Les Renardières site, on the south of Paris. It has been developed to study and support the integration of renewable energy resources in the electric system, as well as storage and new uses such as electric vehicles or heat pumps. Concept Grid is designed to be halfway between laboratory tests and experiments performed on the field. It allows to conduct, in completely safe and secure way, complex testing campaigns that would be impossible to perform on a real system.
This open environment has been designed for many kinds of tests, becoming a privileged place for different stakeholders, from universities to equipment suppliers or network operators.
Role under the Project
EDF is leading the French DC demonstrator in a tertiary building including PV, electric vehicle chargers and DC-ready loads and is leading WP5.