Welcome to the world of Renewable Energy
R&D EXPERIENCE
“In the field offshore wind, the price of the electricity produced has been divided by 2 in ten years, and the installation cost divided by around 1.5. In the land wind sector, the price of the electricity generated has been divided by around 2.5 in ten years and the installation cost divided by around 1.5.
These figures demonstrate the speed of performance improvements in new energy technologies!
At EDF R&D, our challenge is to grow innovation to allow the EDF group to access these technological advances that will keep on coming and integrate them to energy systems to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 through more innovation!”
Etienne Brière, Director of R&D’s Renewables, Storage, Hydrogen and Environment Programme.
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IN FIGURES
3 key figures to remember
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115 kW peak power
per year generated under Agri-PV panels
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5 GW
installed capacity generation target for floating wind turbines by 2030
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1st
The leading renewable energy in France – hydropower
Renewable energies in 2 minutes
Did you know that EDF wanted to double its production of renewable energies? EDF's R&D researchers are at the heart of this mission: innovating in solar, onshore and offshore wind power. Find out more about these ambitious projects on video.
R&D and renewables energies
Duration: 1:44
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R&D and renewable energies
EDF wants to double its production of renewable energies involving new wind and solar farms in particular so as to help us achieve net zero globally.
With its cutting-edge technical expertise, the R&D department has a core role to play in meeting this aim.
As far as wind power is concerned, the work involves sophisticated technical expertise in the various components making up wind turbines, the blades, the mast and the turbine itself, as well as digital tools for improving the performance of the installations, optimising their maintenance, assessing the generation potential, and gauging the remaining lifespan of the components.
Among the flagship projects, multi-physical modelling of offshore wind farms is used to optimise the positioning of wind turbines, thus guaranteeing efficient and sustainable energy production.
The research also involves studying the impact of climate change on wind farms and further development of the modelling.
For solar power, the R&D department is focused on assessing the performance of solar modules, optimising installations and exploring new markets such as agrivoltaics and floating solar.
This will include the deployment of a floating solar power plant in Lazer, which will be able to supply electricity to more than 20,000 people each year.
Or the industrialisation of perovskite-based photovoltaics, in collaboration with the IPVF, paving the way for new technological breakthroughs.
EDF's R&D department is working alongside other departments in the EDF group on developing decarbonised energies.
More information on edf.fr/en/research
Understanding the strategy at the heart of renewables
Innovating to create electricity from offshore winds, inventing ways of exploiting light to provide decarbonised energy for agriculture... Discover how R&D has become the fifth element in the renewable energy sector.
Go further
Introducing... Our Partners
This way to meet EDF R&D’s partners
On 2 May 2020, the IPVF* and the CEA launched a joint programme in the photovoltaic field at the INES (Institut National de l’Énergie Solaire - National Solar Energy Institute). The objective of this collaboration, "Tandem Made in France", is to accelerate the development of cells combining perovskite materials with silicon heterojunction technology in order to create a high efficiency tandem device, which can be translated to an industrial scale.
