EDF Floats Partnership Idea to GE & Alstom Energy

French energy company EDF sees the recently merged GE and Alstom Energy as the perfect partner for the company’s plan to diversify its energy mix by further expanding into renewable energy sector, GE quoted Antoine Cahuzac, the CEO of EDF Énergies Nouvelles, as saying.

By partnering with GE & Alstom Energy, Cahuzac believes that the recently merged company’s global footprint, their equipment, and their ”globally recognized technological expertise in turbines” would help EDF Énergies Nouvelles in providing a significant portion of renewables which are expected to account for almost half of the increase in total electricity generation by 2040.

EDF Énergies Nouvelles is particularly interested in partnering up with GE & Alstom Energy on both offshore and onshore wind projects, seeing that 86% of EDF renewables division’s current installed capacity is either onshore or offshore wind-related.

This would not be the first time EDF collaborated with either Alstom or GE.

Back in April 2012, the consortium led by EDF, for which Alstom is the exclusive turbine supplier, won 3 offshore wind farms in France – Saint-Nazaire, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp – for a total of around 240 wind turbines.

“Alstom’s Haliade 150-6MW offshore wind turbines — which EDF helped develop — will be instrumental in these projects. So this is a very important relationship for EDF,” GE reported Cahuzac as saying.

GE and EDF are currently jointly developing the first subsea tidal power plant in France, with GE providing the special transformers developed in-house.

EDF also believes that the fact that GE’s renewable energy arm will be headquartered in France will help bring the two companies together in their efforts to further boost their positions in the renewables sector.

Offshore Wind Staff; Image: Alstom