EDF_REGISTRATION_DOCUMENT_2017

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PRESENTATION OF EDF GROUP Research & development, patents and licences

Furthermore, R&D actions contribute to improved knowledge and better control of the impact of facilities on the environment, and, at the same time, to ensuring that greater attention is paid to the environmental risks for industrial facilities. For instance, R&D is studying how water resource availability may change in the future as a result of changes in climate and physical geography. R&D research also contributes to understanding the possible risks and consequences for the power generation plants (availability of a heat sink, scope for modulation and location optimisation). To support these programmes, R&D is developing digital simulation tools and experimental test resources, as well as tools that are capable of handling the fresh challenges raised by the increase in large sets of digital data, IT security, and new information and communication technologies. In 2017, EDF launched ConnexLab in Saclay to test new concepts of operation and maintenance. ConnexLab is part of the nuclear sector's digital transition initiative in partnership with AREVA NP (now Framatome) and CEA, equipment manufacturers, maintenance companies and digital model Suppliers. In association with other European leaders in the nuclear sector, in March 2012 EDF R&D set up NUGENIA, an international non-profit organisation whose purpose is to develop a single cooperative framework for R&D in Europe for second- and third-generation nuclear systems, as part of the European Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform (SNETP). The organisation brings together 111 members from 25 countries in 2017 including industrial players, research entities, security authorities etc. EDF chairs this organisation, which will facilitate the creation of synergies and joint projects between members or with national R&D programmes in the following fields: safety and risk analysis, serious accidents, safety and risk analysis; serious accidents; reactor cores and performance; component integrity and ageing; fuel, waste and decommissioning; “Innovative Generation III Design”; as well as into cross-functional issues such as the harmonisation of practices (mainly in the safety field) and non-destructive controls and tests. The second priority is support for the development of renewable energies. These are playing a growing role in the energy landscape both within Europe and worldwide; EDF is already a major player here, and is seeking to expand its role in the field still further. For renewable energies, storage and hydrogen, the goal of R&D is to identify technological breakthroughs that offer a significant competitive advantage, and to help the most promising technologies emerge industrially, working in partnership with the academia and industry. EDF is investigating a wide range of renewable energies and storage solutions: hydropower, photovoltaics, onshore and offshore wind power, solar thermodynamic power, biomass, marine energies, geothermal power, electrochemical batteries, flywheels, flow cells, electrolysers, fuel cells (hydrogen). R&D is also working to develop tools and methods to enhance operational performance and optimise the cost of the EDF group’s electricity generation system projects that are based on renewable energies and storage, with a number of aims in mind: contribute to the success of fixed-foundation and floating offshore wind farm ■ projects, of EDF EN in France and in the United Kingdom by reducing investment risks: EDF R&D, for example, provides its expertise in the Group's offshore wind farm projects, in particular in terms of turbine system and foundation design, turbine certification, production assessment methods, by limiting uncertainties. R&D is also preparing the future by studying floating offshore windfarm technologies; to increase the competitiveness of the EDF group's PV and wind farm projects, ■ through enhanced performance (predictive maintenance) and through the extended lifespan of PV and wind farm facilities, performance qualification brought by innovations, notably through demonstration projects with large-scale wind turbines, and also to show the potential reductions for tidal energy; to help the EDF group gain access to new markets, in particular, to be a CSP ■ benchmark and succeed in the deployment of the "Mon soleil et moi" self-consumption offering without grid feeding; to enhance operational performance; R&D is participating, for example, in the ■ development of an onshore wind farm performance analysis tool and is testing solutions for increasing the return of a wind farm in an electricity market through an efficient control system jointly integrating several dimensions (production optimisation, maintenance, lifespan, system services) to enhance EDF EN operational performance. EDF R&D also assesses and tests the contribution of

optimisation of the control system, experimentation of island operating mode and analysis of the functional contributions of micro-grids in a complementary relationship between interconnected and local grids; moreover, R&D is working on innovative solutions for the management of ■ production and consumption portfolios, and the associated risks. This involves anticipating the consequences of the development of new means of production and/or new decentralised uses for the management of energy systems, and assessing the key issues linked to the interfacing of the overall flexibilities (production, suppliers and energy markets) with the local flexibilities of the Distributed Energy Systems. The activities in the second and third categories for the benefit of Enedis are performed under a services agreement entered into by the R&D Divisions of EDF and Enedis. In order to prepare the solutions to these new challenges, a number of smart electricity prototypes have been developed in France and Europe, in the context of a collaborative approach. R&D has made significant contributions to this. The experience gained of these prototypes in 2017 yielded lessons including the need to focus on the levers for this and prioritise the solutions to be developed (business models, market architecture and energy regulation). These projects also offer opportunities to reflect and innovate, together with the electricity sector as a whole and the ‘new information and communications technologies’ sector, in order to tailor installations to the needs for flexibility of the electricity systems of the future. Research into electricity systems uses extensive test facilities: laboratories for high-voltage electrical testing enabling a very wide range of ■ qualification and investigation tests for all types of electrical equipment to be carried out: high power, mechanical and climatic endurance, dielectric materials, “high power” long term and aging; the high power testing laboratory benefited from a major renovation programme in 2017; system management test facilities, communicating devices and systems, metering ■ equipment, power-line communication and electric vehicle smart charging; Concept Grid testing facility: Concept Grid is a scaled-down electricity network ■ for the purpose of trialling and testing the installation of the innovative hardware and “intelligent” systems that together make up a smart grid, prior to them being installed on the grid itself. Consolidating and developing 1.6.2.3 competitive low-carbon production mixes In the field of nuclear, hydro and fossil-fired power generation, EDF R&D is developing tools and methods to improve the safety of production resources, optimise their operational lifespan, and increase their performance in terms of output and environmental impact. There are three key priority goals: ensuring the Group maintains its advantage in terms of nuclear power over the long term, developing renewable energies while reducing their cost and increasing the extent to which they are used in electricity systems, while improving the environmental acceptability of our generation facilities. To secure the Group’s advantage in nuclear power generation in the long term, R&D is working to protect EDF’s assets through actions in line with its policy to improve the safety of facilities, particularly with regard to enhanced performance and extended operating lifespan. In 2017, for example, R&D carried out tests on the VeRcors concrete containment model located in the Renardières R&D centre. This VeRcors model is a one-third scale, double-walled concrete containment structure representative of a 1,300MW reactor building. The results of the containment test carried out in March 2017 are being used to strengthen the digital twin of this containment building which aims to predict the ageing phenomenons of the concrete and therefore the building's operating lifespan. A containment test is programmed every year, and thus after 5 tests (given that the thickness of the VeRcors wall is one third weaker than for an actual containment building), the digital twin will be able to predict with a reasonable level of confidence the ageing of the building beyond a 40-year lifespan. Moreover, initiatives in the field of nuclear power also concern issues relating to the fuel cycle. They include the design of new power plants, in particular fourth-generation plants and Small Modular Reactors (SMR).

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EDF I Reference Document 2017