EDF Could Create 300 Local Offshore Wind Jobs in France

With its 1.4 GW portfolio of renewable energy power plants under contract, including 30% growth in 2013, EDF Energies Nouvelles through EDF EN Services, its subsidiary dedicated to the Operations & Maintenance activities, has become utilities’ key partner for such services in the French market.

At the same time, EDF Energies Nouvelles Group continues to expand its workforce significantly in Europe and in North America so that it is able to handle the Operations & Maintenance of facilities owned by the Group and other power plant owners.

This business brings with it new jobs supervising power plants, monitoring production and unlocking efficiency improvements at the facilities.

As offshore wind farms come on-line, more employment opportunities will also open up.

Operations & Maintenance of facilities: an expanding business creating sustainable jobs

In France, just over 200 employees of EDF EN Services, including 150 experts and technicians, currently handle Operations & Maintenance more than 300 wind and solar facilities, half belonging to EDF Energies Nouvelles and half to third parties.

In 2013, EDF EN Services boosted its workforce by almost 40% across France with the expansion of the Group’s portfolio of facilities under management, linked in particular to the acquisition of 35 wind farms from Séchilienne Sidec and Iberdrola.

To respond rapidly to any incidents and maintain a high-quality service, EDF EN Services opens Operations & Maintenance centers as close as it can to facilities. Seven additional units were opened in 2013, bringing the network to 18 centers in total.

Overall across Europe and North America, EDF Energies Nouvelles’ Operations & Maintenance saw its workforce growing of close to 45% in size between year-end 2011 and year-end 2013, to more than 1,000 employees.

A job with a bright future: Operations & Maintenance technician

Since it was set up to serve the European market in 2009, EDF EN Services has received the expertise of EDF Renewable Services for the development of its business,  the company’s subsidiary dedicated to Operations & Maintenance in North America. With over 25 years of experience in these activities, the American subsidiary manages a 7.4 GW portfolio in the United-States, Mexico and Canada at year-end 2013.

Three quarters of Operations & Maintenance have been concentrated on wind energy, the most mature technology. Most of the technicians recruited recently have received BTS-type (HND-equivalent, two years of higher education) technical training (electrical, mechanical or automated systems) and a significant wind energy experience. Their job is to keep a watchful eye on the performance of power plants and equipment and to ensure that generation is as efficient as possible by performing preventative and corrective maintenance in the field.

In Europe, every local unit is affiliated with the operations and control center set up in 2009 in Colombiers, in the Hérault department, where 30 experts, engineers and technicians continuously track performance remotely (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

Job development prospects: offshore wind energy

The development of new wind energy projects off the coast of France also means approximately one hundred Operations & Maintenance jobs for each wind farm. The future wind farms at Courseulles-sur-Mer, Fécamp and Saint-Nazaire, developed by EDF Energies Nouvelles, will create some 300 sustainable local jobs by the time they are commissioned in 2018.

Furthermore, EDF Energies Nouvelles intends to set up an operations and control center covering all its offshore wind farms in French waters by mid-2017. Based nearby Nantes, it will have around fifty employees, including monitoring technicians, administrative and management staff.

Press release, April 18, 2014; Image: Alstom (Illustration)