EdF plans for future nuclear growth
04 December 2008
Electricité de France (EdF) plans to invest up to €50 billion ($63 billion) in new nuclear power plants worldwide by 2020. The company held an investor day in London today at which it presented details of its future strategy and investment plans.
Total investment, including the development of new nuclear power reactors, will between €40 billion ($50 billion) and €50 billion ($63 billion) by 2020, EdF said. It added that its net financing requirements over the same period will be between €12 billion ($15 billion) and €20 billion ($25 billion), given the involvement of partners in projects in France, China, the USA and possibly the UK.
EdF has added Italy to its list of countries targeted for nuclear expansion. The company - already focusing on nuclear expansion in the UK, China, the USA and South Africa - said that it is conducting a feasibility study into developing reactors in Italy.
EdF has also set the target of having an average availability factor of 85% at its fleet of nuclear power reactors by 2011. It noted that the availability rate in 2008 should be similar to that of 2007, which was 80.2%. The company said it will take several measures to reach its target, including the "optimization of planned outages and the gradual implementation of measures aimed at improving equipment performance."
The average age of EdF's reactors is 22 years and 18 units will reach a lifetime of 40 years between 2015 and 2020. The company said it has "started R&D and industrial action plans to with the view to extend the lifespan of the fleet beyond 40 years." EdF said that these actions translate into a €400 million ($507 million) capital expenditure per reactor.
Some 24,000 of EdF's workers are currently involved in nuclear. However, the company said that 40% of managers and engineers are expected to retire by 2015, in generation, engineering and R&D. The group aims to recruit an additional 900 engineers by 2011 and 5000 engineers and technicians over the next ten years.
Flamanville costs rise
EdF said that the cost of constructing its new Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) at Flamanville, France, has increased 20%. In 2005, it was estimated that the plant would cost €3.3 billion ($4.2 billion) to build, but the company now says it will cost some €4.0 billion ($5.1 billion). EdF said the revised cost "takes into account increase in prices and the effects of some contractual indexes due to higher raw material costs and the impact of technical and regulatory evolutions."
With the increased construction cost of the Flamanville EPR, generating costs at the plant have also been revised. Total production costs are now put at €54 per megawatt-hour (MWh) ($68/MWh), up from the 2005 estimate of €46/MWh ($58/MWh).
EdF said that, using a comparable method, the estimated cost for constructing a US EPR is close to the costs presented for Europe.
The company confirmed that it still aims to begin operating the Flamanville EPR in 2012. It also plans to commission the first Chinese EPR in 2013 (Taishan 1), the first US EPR in 2016 (Calvert Cliffs 3) and the first EPR in the UK at the end of 2017.