EDF_REGISTRATION_DOCUMENT_2017

PRESENTATION OF EDF GROUP Research & development, patents and licences

In the field of nuclear R&D, a three-way agreement between CEA, EDF and AREVA was agreed upon at the beginning of 2014 and was renewed in 2017 (Framatome replacing AREVA). This new “Institute” agreement is designed to increase R&D programme coordination between partners and to make available programmes defined with reference to detailed goals, particularly industrial goals. In practical terms, this entails the following: formation of a Three-Party Programme Team (équipe programme tripartite, EPT), ■ responsible for programme supervision and coordination. This team consists of four members per partner, for a total of 12 members; detailing of these programmes in the form of projects monitored by the EPT; ■ implementation of these programmes in existing shared laboratories. ■ At the same time, the three-party agreement on R&D between CEA, IRSN and EDF was also the subject of negotiations in 2014; this has led to the signature of a four-party agreement including AREVA NP (now Framtome), allowing enhanced coordination with the “Institute” policy. R&D is also present within the Energy Transition Institutes (Instituts de la transition énergétique, ITE) which were set up as part of France’s “Investments for the Future” initiative: the Île-de-France Photovoltaic Institute (IPVF): EDF is one of the founding ■ members of this Institute, which seeks technological breakthroughs in photovoltaic energy that is competitive in the market Ultimately, the Institute will bring together some 150 researchers seconded from the different partners to work with state of the art equipment located at Saclay; The new building designed to house the IPVF was completed in autumn 2017. This building complex with a floor area of around 8,000 square metres and combines tertiary space and laboratories is located on the Paris Saclay Campus in close proximity to EDF Lab. Teams was installed and testing commenced in December 2017; France Énergies Marines, devoted to marine energies and offshore wind farms; ■ SuperGrid, focusing on major transport networks to connect remote renewable ■ energy production sites; Vedecom, devoted to electric mobility; ■ Efficacity, working on energy efficiency and sustainable cities; ■ INEF 4 working in the field of building rehabilitation and sustainable ■ construction. EDF is also the driving force behind ConnexITy, an R&D programme aimed at connecting, through digital technology, players in the nuclear sector in order to simplify power plant operation, site preparation and design. To respond to this a new laboratory was opened in November 2017, ConnexLab at EDF Lab Paris-Saclay. EDF is also a founding member of several European associations recognised at the EU level, such as Nugenia for nuclear power and EASE for storage. Since the early 2000s, EDF has had a research centre in Germany, EIFER, in collaboration with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). This centre is chiefly devoted to decentralised production (fuel cells, hydrogen), sustainable cities and territories, geothermal energy, and biofuels. This centre was recently reorganised to increase the focus on hydrogen issues and also on innovations in technologies and business models being developed in Germany within the framework of EnergieWende. In the hydrogen field, 2017 saw increased cooperation between the Japanese research centre CRIEPI with EIFER and Edison's R&D centre. The EIFER centre also supports the commercial subsidiary EDF Deutschland in its sales and marketing development projects in the German market through the integration of innovative solutions in its range of offers. Since 2010, research activity has increased internationally around several centres: in the United Kingdom, China, Singapore, the United States and Italy. The United Kingdom Centre consolidates the Group’s positions in the British research eco-system, particularly through Strathclyde University in the field of renewables, as well as with Manchester University, Imperial College, the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and the University of Bristol in the field of nuclear energy. In 2012, this research centre became an independent legal entity, EDF Energy R&D UK Centre Ltd, a subsidiary of EDF Energy. This new status has raised EDF’s profile and research capability in the United Kingdom, in line with the Group’s development strategy. The centre thus provides direct support to the activities of EDF Energy business units whether in the existing nuclear field (extension of AGR reactor lifespans, decommissioning), or in new projects with the installation of an antenna in Bristol to support the HPC project. The centre is also fully mobilised, in digital

new business sectors to improve business performance (virtual and augmented reality, 3D printers, stealth blades, etc.); controlling the technical and economic impact on the electricity system, and ■ managing the electricity system balance as renewable energies are incorporated. The work concerns the definition of procedures for renewable energies to be inserted into electricity grids. This involves analysing the different solutions allowing the integration of intermittent renewable energies and the evaluation of constraints and the cost of their integration into large systems: storage, super grids, smart grids, demand-side management, etc.; devising services and offerings that EDF might offer its customers in the area of ■ stationary storage and design better storage/renewable energies/converter products according to planned use in order to optimise investment and running costs; anticipating and contributing to the emergence of forthcoming major ■ breakthroughs in the areas of renewable energies and storage (technological or business model) and assessing them; boosting deployment of internal and external innovations to the divisions. ■ In 2017, R&D also strengthened its involvement in European H2020 joint research projects on renewable energies and storage: Project ROMEO, dedicated to the optimisation of offshore wind farm maintenance strategies thanks to artificial intelligence techniques, project FLOTEC, which supports and aims to carry out functional analysis of the industrialisation of the Scot Renewable floating tidal turbine, Project SCORE, which aims at optimising an energy system for buildings integrating hybrid storage, Project CREATE, dedicated to studying the technico-economic interest of thermal storage in buildings, project Next-CSP, which is developing a high temperature solar tower concentrated solar power (CSP) prototype on the Thémis platform in France. The third priority is to improve the environmental acceptability of our production facilities. Climate change, the marked decline in biodiversity and Earth’s limited resources make EDF a legitimate choice for a low carbon energy mix. The aim of the R&D Division’s initiatives is: through its scientific and technical expertise, to contribute to the way in which ■ the regulatory environment is implemented and evolves, in a way that is proportionate to the key issues; to provide justification for our production facilities being on par with the best ■ available techniques, at an economically acceptable cost, and to leverage these best available techniques in new projects; to acknowledge and manage our impact on terrestrial and aquatic environments, ■ enhance the value of our improvement initiatives, limit and enhance the value of our sub-products; to know how to anticipate and address new developments in climate change, for ■ example by becoming more familiar with the robustness of the heat sinks for power plants in light of future climate change; to contribute to leveraging our positive actions with regard to local stakeholders. ■ PARTNERSHIPS To conduct its research and development programmes, EDF R&D develops a large number of partnerships worldwide, the purpose of which is to maintain its expertise at the highest global level in the disciplines central to EDF’s concerns, and to supplement its internal reservoir of skills. R&D’s partnership policy is embodied in a variety of ways, both nationally and internationally. In France, over the past few years R&D has set up about fifteen laboratories on a joint basis with academic partners and technical or industrial centres. With them, it is participating in collaborative research projects funded by several national desks. Each shared laboratory offers an opportunity to establish a combined team in order to focus on a common scientific and technical problem, with a view to creating value, expertise and knowledge for all partners; this constitutes a major asset when taking part in cooperative projects. R&D also supports a few specially targeted teaching and research chairs. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND 1.6.3

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EDF I Reference Document 2017