Research centers in France

[This video introduces EDF Lab Chatou, EDF Group's historic R&D site, specializing in hydropower, nuclear energy, renewable energies and the environment.]

Located on the Île des Impressionnistes, EDF Lab Chatou is EDF's first research center. It was established in 1946.

The teams work on nuclear energy, hydropower, renewable energies and the environment, with one common goal: reinventing the energy of tomorrow.

Spread over thirteen hectares, three research departments work together to support the performance, safety and sustainability of energy facilities.

Thanks to exceptional testing facilities, they conduct tests under real-world conditions.

For example, the IGNIS facility helps improve understanding of fire risks in nuclear power plants.

The WAAM process explores the manufacturing and repair of large components using a robotic welding system.

In Hall J, a vast 10,000-square-metre space, researchers recreate hydraulic flows to study interactions between electrical facilities and the environment, including rivers, coastlines and ecosystems.

They also study seawater intake and discharge conditions to improve the reliability and design of facilities.

Further on, the POOL-LOOP test rig enables researchers to test passive cooling systems designed to enhance the safety of the fuel pools of future reactors.

Every experiment and every innovation serves the same goal: building a more sustainable and resilient energy system.

[This video introduces EDF Lab Paris-Saclay, inaugurated in 2016 and the EDF Group's newest R&D center.]

Located on the Saclay Plateau, at the heart of one of Europe's largest research ecosystems and next to the EDF Group's training campus, EDF Lab Paris-Saclay works on the technologies that will shape tomorrow's power system.

The 700-square-metre, 17-metre-high testing hall makes it possible to test electrical and mechanical equipment under real-world conditions.

Digital tools further expand research and training opportunities: at ConnexLab, virtual reality is used with the immersive interactive power plant, alongside AI and digital twins, to prepare tomorrow's power plants and facilitate their operation.

Innovative methods and laboratories such as the Smart Home Experience Lab help understand and model customer behaviours and energy consumption, in order to design offers and services in France and internationally.

Here, teams work on low-carbon electricity generation, the power grids of the future, advanced digital technologies, cybersecurity and Smart Grids.

In this hub of continuous interaction, universities, leading higher-education institutions, research centers and industrial partners work closely with EDF researchers to accelerate the energy transition.

Their goal: to design more efficient and smarter solutions to transform energy systems.

[This film introduces EDF Lab Les Renardières, EDF Group's largest R&D center, dedicated since 1964 to experimental research across all areas of electricity.]

Located around one hundred kilometers from Paris, EDF Lab Les Renardières is EDF Group's largest research and development center.

Spanning 85 hectares, it brings together three research departments, 40 laboratories and an international institute.

Since 1964, its teams have been imagining, testing and improving the technologies that will shape tomorrow's power system, from electricity generation to applications in homes and industry, including power grids and energy storage.

Testing is carried out at every scale, using facilities that are unique in the world.

For example, Concept Grid can simulate the operation of an entire smart power grid.

Climatron reproduces extreme climatic conditions to test heat pumps and other electrical equipment, assess their ageing and improve their long-term reliability.

Using electron microscopy, teams study materials down to their finest structures: atoms.

PV Lab, the high-voltage laboratory, the low-carbon smart home, the corrosion hall, VERCORS, to name but a few.

Each experiment provides concrete answers to today's and tomorrow's industrial and energy challenges.

At the heart of the Group's innovation ecosystem, EDF Lab Les Renardières advances knowledge to deliver energy that is safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly.