Latest news with #LucRemont
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
EDF weighs asset sales amid greater push for nuclear energy, FT reports
(Reuters) -French state-owned utility EDF's new chief is considering a sale of some assets as part of a review of the firm's portfolio in a bid to meet government demands to spur investments in new nuclear reactors, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Dalkia and Edison are among the business units that may be sold, the FT reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Renewable assets, with the exception of EDF's hydraulic power projects, are also being considered for sale, it added. France is nuclear energy's main champion in Europe as it gets around 70% of its energy from the source. EDF's nuclear fleet produces about 70% of France's electricity. Bernard Fontana was nominated to be the next CEO of EDF in March, after President Emmanuel Macron's government lost patience with former chief Luc Remont due to differences over how to provide power and build new capital-intensive nuclear reactors. Fontana has told insiders that he wanted to assess which assets are not profitable or do not fit with the energy group's strategic priorities, the FT reported, adding that the sale could come after the review, although he has not yet concluded which parts of the business should be sold off. EDF did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Forbes
09-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How France May Squander Its Nuclear Energy Advantage
Electricite de France (EDF) CEO, Luc Remont, poses for a photograph at the Penly Nuclear Power Plant ... More in Petit-Caux, on the English Channel coast, on December 9, 2022. (Photo by Lou BENOIST / AFP) (Photo by LOU BENOIST/AFP via Getty Images) The global rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the proliferation of data centers, urbanization in emerging markets, and increasingly widespread electrification are all major factors driving the insatiable demand for electricity world-wide. Meanwhile, the world's focus on zero-emission energy in response to climate change has placed a premium on developing and maintaining safe and reliable nuclear energy virtually everywhere, which can provide a steady baseload of much needed non-fossil fuel energy throughout the world. Indeed, large energy dependent companies like Microsoft and Google are even beginning to purchase their own nuclear reactors, while European nations like Germany, Austria, and Switzerland shutter their own, existing ones. Unique among Western nations, France remained committed to producing nuclear energy while the rest of the world mothballed many nuclear facilities in reaction to disasters like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. According to the World Nuclear Association, France now produces approximately 70% of its energy from nuclear sources. As the world becomes more concerned with reducing dependence on fossil fuels, France would seem to be among the best-positioned nations to lead in energy production while decreasing carbon emissions. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The reality is that energy planning and supply in France have had a spotty and complicated record over the last several years. This, in turn, raises serious questions about Paris's ability to lead Europe into the new energy age, despite President Emmanuel Macron's apparent aspirations to position France as Europe's carbon-free energy frontrunner. 2022 was a watershed year – just as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, threatening to trigger energy supply emergencies for many European countries, half of France's nuclear power plants were offline. For the first time in decades, France was forced to become a net importer of energy, at a time when its neighbors were struggling to obtain power themselves without depending on Moscow to keep the lights and heat on. To make matters worse, the French government decided the time was right to start nationalizing the country's nuclear power operator, Électricité de France (EDF), thereby angering the company's employee shareholders in the process. The government also decided to try to shield French consumers from rising energy costs, forcing EDF to buy energy at high market prices and distribute it at a loss. This messy scenario resulted in EDF suing its own government for some €8.3 billion in losses, with its employee shareholders threatening to sue for more. 2022 was also the year that Macron, then a candidate for his second presidential term, called for a 'nuclear renaissance' to include the build-out of up to 14 new nuclear reactors as a key step in getting away from the use of fossil fuels. His call was actually quite late in coming – in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, France had put new nuclear projects on hold. Meanwhile, its fleet of existing reactors was aging out and needing more frequent maintenance. Further, inspections and repairs had lagged behind schedule due to the prolonged wave of COVID shutdowns. By 2021, the mean age of France's 56 reactors was 36.1 years. The government had been planning to conduct the requisite inspections and repairs to extend the life of select reactors in the fleet to 50 years when stress corrosion issues were found in several of the reactors, necessitating shutdowns. Some of France's reactors still remain offline. In 2024, EDF finally opened a new type of reactor in Flamanville, on the Normandy coast, after massive cost overruns (€13.2 billion/US$14.6 billion – around four times the €3.3 billion initially budgeted) and 12 years of delays. However, the reactor shut itself down on its second day of operation. After completely restructuring its core, EDF eventually reconnected it to the grid in April 2025. While France has remained committed to nuclear power, it is not managing to walk its own walk as far as costs and delivery are concerned. The example of the Flamanville reactor speaks for itself. At the same time, Paris has contradicted itself repeatedly when it comes to integrating renewables into its energy framework. For instance, in 2023, France enacted a green energy law requiring listed companies to consult their shareholders on their climate strategies — only to backtrack on many of its provisions within months in a demonstration of poor planning, ill-considered policymaking, and an overall lack of practical and strategic vision. The constant back-and-forth, delays, and false starts, along with the massive cost overruns associated with nuclear construction, have rendered French energy policy incoherent and placed a burden on its neighbors. This became glaringly evident on April 28th, when a massive power blackout hit all of Spain and Portugal, as well as parts of France and neighboring countries. While the immediate cause of the outage is still under investigation, the fragility of Spain's grid and its limited connectivity to France were major contributors. Spain's Energy Minister, Teresa Ribera, has previously highlighted the enormous difficulties in improving cross-border energy links with France, which continue to hinder Spain's integration into the broader European energy market, leaving that country with limited options for electricity imports from France during times of crisis. The recent blackout underscores the challenges of integrating intermittent renewable sources, which typically introduce volatility into power grids through significant fluctuations in production and transmission. While France, with its nuclear baseload, fared better during the blackout than its Iberian neighbors, the blackout once again raised the issue of how Paris will generate power reliably and cost-effectively in the future. Despite his aspirations, France's inconsistent energy policy and budgetary constraints limit Macron's ability to maneuver internationally, and leave him little choice but to court Qatari investments and even seek accommodations with Iran. What's more, without a coherent, long-term energy policy that generates sufficient power, France is actually creating an energy dilemma for itself that serves as fertile political ground for the home-grown populist right National Rally, which has been gaining momentum among French voters and nearly won the most recent national elections before a court barred the party's leader, Marine Le Pen, from running for the presidency in April 2027. For France as a whole, all of this disarray and lack of cogent planning reflects the remarkable squandering of a once-commanding energy advantage. France's long-time leadership in nuclear energy should have given it a winning hand internationally. Instead, although its President talks a big game, its leaders appear unable to chart a clear course, endangering its overall leadership of the EU on energy policy in the process.
Forbes
09-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
FRANCE MAY SQUANDER ITS NUCLEAR ENERGY ADVANTAGE
Electricite de France (EDF) CEO, Luc Remont, poses for a photograph at the Penly Nuclear Power Plant ... More in Petit-Caux, on the English Channel coast, on December 9, 2022. (Photo by Lou BENOIST / AFP) (Photo by LOU BENOIST/AFP via Getty Images) The global rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the proliferation of data centers, urbanization in emerging markets, and increasingly widespread electrification are all major factors driving the insatiable demand for electricity world-wide. Meanwhile, the world's focus on zero-emission energy in response to climate change has placed a premium on developing and maintaining safe and reliable nuclear energy virtually everywhere, which can provide a steady baseload of much needed non-fossil fuel energy throughout the world. Indeed, large energy dependent companies like Microsoft and Google are even beginning to purchase their own nuclear reactors, while European nations like Germany, Austria, and Switzerland shutter their own, existing ones. Unique among Western nations, France remained committed to producing nuclear energy while the rest of the world mothballed many nuclear facilities in reaction to disasters like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. According to the World Nuclear Association, France now produces approximately 70% of its energy from nuclear sources. As the world becomes more concerned with reducing dependence on fossil fuels, France would seem to be among the best-positioned nations to lead in energy production while decreasing carbon emissions. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The reality is that energy planning and supply in France have had a spotty and complicated record over the last several years. This, in turn, raises serious questions about Paris's ability to lead Europe into the new energy age, despite President Emmanuel Macron's apparent aspirations to position France as Europe's carbon-free energy frontrunner. 2022 was a watershed year – just as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, threatening to trigger energy supply emergencies for many European countries, half of France's nuclear power plants were offline. For the first time in decades, France was forced to become a net importer of energy, at a time when its neighbors were struggling to obtain power themselves without depending on Moscow to keep the lights and heat on. To make matters worse, the French government decided the time was right to start nationalizing the country's nuclear power operator, Électricité de France (EDF), thereby angering the company's employee shareholders in the process. The government also decided to try to shield French consumers from rising energy costs, forcing EDF to buy energy at high market prices and distribute it at a loss. This messy scenario resulted in EDF suing its own government for some €8.3 billion in losses, with its employee shareholders threatening to sue for more. 2022 was also the year that Macron, then a candidate for his second presidential term, called for a 'nuclear renaissance' to include the build-out of up to 14 new nuclear reactors as a key step in getting away from the use of fossil fuels. His call was actually quite late in coming – in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, France had put new nuclear projects on hold. Meanwhile, its fleet of existing reactors was aging out and needing more frequent maintenance. Further, inspections and repairs had lagged behind schedule due to the prolonged wave of COVID shutdowns. By 2021, the mean age of France's 56 reactors was 36.1 years. The government had been planning to conduct the requisite inspections and repairs to extend the life of select reactors in the fleet to 50 years when stress corrosion issues were found in several of the reactors, necessitating shutdowns. Some of France's reactors still remain offline. In 2024, EDF finally opened a new type of reactor in Flamanville, on the Normandy coast, after massive cost overruns (€13.2 billion/US$14.6 billion – around four times the €3.3 billion initially budgeted) and 12 years of delays. However, the reactor shut itself down on its second day of operation. After completely restructuring its core, EDF eventually reconnected it to the grid in April 2025. While France has remained committed to nuclear power, it is not managing to walk its own walk as far as costs and delivery are concerned. The example of the Flamanville reactor speaks for itself. At the same time, Paris has contradicted itself repeatedly when it comes to integrating renewables into its energy framework. For instance, in 2023, France enacted a green energy law requiring listed companies to consult their shareholders on their climate strategies — only to backtrack on many of its provisions within months in a demonstration of poor planning, ill-considered policymaking, and an overall lack of practical and strategic vision. The constant back-and-forth, delays, and false starts, along with the massive cost overruns associated with nuclear construction, have rendered French energy policy incoherent and placed a burden on its neighbors. This became glaringly evident on April 28th, when a massive power blackout hit all of Spain and Portugal, as well as parts of France and neighboring countries. While the immediate cause of the outage is still under investigation, the fragility of Spain's grid and its limited connectivity to France were major contributors. Spain's Energy Minister, Teresa Ribera, has previously highlighted the enormous difficulties in improving cross-border energy links with France, which continue to hinder Spain's integration into the broader European energy market, leaving that country with limited options for electricity imports from France during times of crisis. The recent blackout underscores the challenges of integrating intermittent renewable sources, which typically introduce volatility into power grids through significant fluctuations in production and transmission. While France, with its nuclear baseload, fared better during the blackout than its Iberian neighbors, the blackout once again raised the issue of how Paris will generate power reliably and cost-effectively in the future. Despite his aspirations, France's inconsistent energy policy and budgetary constraints limit Macron's ability to maneuver internationally, and leave him little choice but to court Qatari investments and even seek accommodations with Iran. What's more, without a coherent, long-term energy policy that generates sufficient power, France is actually creating an energy dilemma for itself that serves as fertile political ground for the home-grown populist right National Rally, which has been gaining momentum among French voters and nearly won the most recent national elections before a court barred the party's leader, Marine Le Pen, from running for the presidency in April 2027. For France as a whole, all of this disarray and lack of cogent planning reflects the remarkable squandering of a once-commanding energy advantage. France's long-time leadership in nuclear energy should have given it a winning hand internationally. Instead, although its President talks a big game, its leaders appear unable to chart a clear course, endangering its overall leadership of the EU on energy policy in the process.
Reuters
25-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
French industry awaits shift in EDF strategy under new CEO
PARIS, March 25 (Reuters) - Bernard Fontana, France's nominee to head state nuclear company EDF, would face a daunting to-do list if he gets the job, with his most pressing task being to conclude months of tense talks with French industry over the price of long-term power supply. A new system for French electricity sales to heavy industry takes effect next year, while the lack of progress on the issue was enough to cost current CEO Luc Remont his job, according to a government source and media reports. EDF's pricey offers have so far attracted few companies, raising the risk that both the utility and the country's biggest companies are left buying and selling at market prices without long-term visibility. EDF's failure to agree new, long-term contracts with businesses had become a growing source of frustration for Paris, keen to support an industry already weakened by high energy prices in recent years. It has also stirred debate about the company's mission, with industry executives and former officials calling for it to serve a public function. President Emmanuel Macron's office said in an unexpected announcement on Friday that it had asked Fontana, currently boss of nuclear engineering firm Framatome, to take over from Luc Remont, whose mandate expires this summer. A day earlier, Benoit Bazin, chief executive of construction materials company Saint Gobain, had called out EDF in a media interview for its failure to fulfil its "historic partnership" with industry. "The core issue is: Is EDF a public company that should sell at cost or is it a commercial company that should make a profit?", said Emeric de Vigan, CEO at Paris-based energy consultancy 42 Advisors. EDF does not disclose its costs of production and declined to comment on the change of leadership. Remont, who has run EDF since its nationalisation in 2023, said in French newspaper Le Figaro on Sunday that he was not prepared to run the company like a public authority. TOUGH TALKS Fontana's appointment must be approved by parliament in the coming weeks. The country's largest party, the National Rally, plans to support his nomination, its member of parliament Jean-Philippe Tanguy told reporters on Tuesday. Industry experts and analysts say Fontana would need to lower the company's offers to conclude negotiations. EDF's nuclear fleet produces about 70% of France's electricity. Under the new nuclear production allocation scheme (CAPN) it can sell power at a fixed price under long-term contracts to large users, who make up about 10% of the country's total demand. With only around a quarter of the amount initially targeted by the government committed, the company recently announced it would open up its supply to companies outside France, further angering domestic industry. "The main problems are visibility and price," said Fabrice Alexandre, a representative at industry lobby Uniden, which represents companies like Renault and Air Liquide. Industry is willing to pay more upfront for long-term security, but it expects a lower price, he said, adding that companies want deals finalised before the summer. Fontana will need to offer prices of around 50 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) to win over industry, said De Vigan, well below the 70 euros or more that it has been proposing. Progress in the long-term contract negotiations is also key to moving forward with a major buildout of new reactors, added De Vigan. "If the old fleet is competitive enough, then demand will pick up and the new fleet will be needed," he said.
Reuters
21-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
French president picks new CEO for EDF in unexpected shakeup
PARIS, March 21 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed a new CEO at state-owned utility EDF, the Elysee said on Friday, in an unexpected move just two years after current chief executive Luc Remont took on the role. Macron proposed Bernard Fontana, currently head of nuclear engineering group Framatome, take over, the statement said, without offering details on why Remont was being replaced.
