Partnerships

This recent scientific partnership (2013) focuses on the modelling of new network components for smart grid studies (wind turbines, solar PV, EVs and storage), energy storage research and applications for distribution networks and renewable energies integration, laboratory testing of the V2H (Vehicle to Home) concept, etc. CEPRI is a major player when it comes to research, with more than 2,500 collaborators.

CRIEPI

The Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry is a leading Japanese research institute, created in 1951 by electricity companies.
Its 6 research centres aim to deepen scientific knowledge and to develop technologies in scientific and technical domains linked to the Japanese power industry.
Its 3 main areas of application are the management of risks associated with electricity supply, the improvement of maintenance technologies for power generation and network equipment, and the creation of a supply and demand infrastructure for the electrical systems of tomorrow.

ETI

The Energy Technologies Institute is a public/private partnership structure created at the initiative of the British government to boost R&D on low-carbon energies in Great-Britain. EDF Energy is an industrial founding member, as are BP, Shell, E-on, Rolls-Royce and Caterpillar, and works alongside public representatives such as the British administration, the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council).

Efficacity

The work of this institute for city energy transition is based on energy efficiency and sustainable cities.

It unites around one hundred researchers specialised in energy and environment, as well as economists, architects, town planners and sociologists from 6 major international companies, among them EDF, ENGIE, Veolia, Vinci, IBM France and the RATP, as well as from 7 engineering companies and 15 public research institutions.

France Energies Marines

France Energies Marines, of which EDF is an active member, offers a transversal approach to R&D on scientific issues and technological obstacles (resources, anchorage, sea-worthiness, etc.) to overcome, to industrialise new wind turbine technologies at sea, tidal stream generators, wave energy converters and ocean thermal energy in the near future.

INEF 4

The work of the Institut National d'Excellence Facteur 4 focuses on building rehabilitation and sustainable construction.
It combines technical centres, university laboratories, project managers and businesses of all sizes; it shows particular interest in collaborative and multidisciplinary processes leading to energy and environmental building performance, and in usage management.

IPVF

The Ile-de-France Photovoltaic Institute (IPVF) focuses on technological breakthroughs to provide competitive photovoltaic energy on the market.
Set in the heart of the Paris-Saclay scientific cluster, it boasts around 200 researchers from its various partners (EDF, Total, CNRS, Ecole Polytechnique, Air Liquide, Horiba-Jobin-Yvon, Riber) using cutting-edge equipment.
It aims to become one of the top five photovoltaic research institutes in the world.

PS2E

The works of Paris-Saclay Efficacité Energétique focus on the energy efficiency of industrial processes and energy control in the industrial sector.
Founded by 9 major energy players (including EDF, Air Liquide, Total, the CEA, Centrale Paris and Mines ParisTech, among others), it combines research teams and technology simulation platforms on a single site to work on 4 major themes: heat valorisation, industrial plant flexibility (smart factory), industrial eco-parks (synergies between stakeholders), as well as auditing and metrology (defining a common standard).

SuperGrid

The works of the SuperGrid Institute aim to improve energy management and to promote the integration of remote renewable energy sources (off-shore wind turbines, solar farms) by developing transport technologies for future power supply networks and mass power storage.

VEDECOM

The Institut du Véhicule Décarboné et Communicant et de sa Mobilité (the new French institute for energy transition) aims to promote the emergence of tomorrow's automotive breakthrough technologies, as well as new ways to apprehend mobility.
It is a multidisciplinary institute which represents numerous industrial sectors (automotive, aviation, electronic, ICT). Its members collaborate on pre-competitive and pre-normative research that benefits the mobility sector.

BHEE

The joint Bâtiment à Haute Efficacité Energétique laboratory for the energy efficient building is party to an agreement with the CETHIL (the Centre de Thermique de Lyon, a joint research centre that includes the CNRS, the Lyon INSA and the University of Lyon 1).
It designs innovating measures in the field of energy saving and greenhouse gas reduction for new constructions and retrofits. Its area of study focuses particularly on solar energy systems for heating, hot water and air conditioning, photovoltaic-thermal hybrid systems that produce heat and electricity simultaneously, thermal storage and bioclimatic solutions.

CEREA

The Centre d'Enseignement et de Recherche en Environnement Atmosphérique (Education Centre for Research and Atmospheric Environment) is party to an agreement with the Ecole des Ponts ParisTech and INRIA.
Focused on air pollution and the microscale meteorology of the atmosphere’s lower layers, its research ranges from aerosol modelling to human activity impact studies (energy production, transport), by modelling/forecasting reactive pollutant transport on a regional scale, and small scale modelling (urban/thermal pollution of buildings).

EM2VM

Étude et Modélisation des Mécanismes de Vieillissement des Matériaux (modelling and study of materials’ ageing mechanisms) is a laboratory developed in partnership with the CNRS, USTL, Chimie Lille, Insa Rouen and the University of Rouen.
It focuses on understanding the ageing of nuclear power reactors’ structural materials (primary circuits, the tank and its internal structures) in a complex environment (temperature and/or radiation, constraints and environment (heat-transfer fluid).

FiME

The economic science laboratory Finance des Marchés de l'Énergie (financing of the energy markets) is party to an agreement with the University Paris-Dauphine, the Centre for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST) and the Ecole Polytechnique.
It welcomes around 30 researchers from different academic institutions who are willing to work with EDF’s R&D engineer-researchers on mathematical economics and sustainable quantitative finance in the energy sector. Three themes are specifically explored: long-term financial risk management, the valorisation of structured products in an incomplete market and the modelling of the energy price system.

IMSIA

The Institute of Mechanical Sciences and Industrial Applications is a joint research centre that includes the CNRS, CEA Saclay and ENSTA.
More than 70 researchers study damage mechanisms in materials and structures, accounting for loads and couplings actually incurred by the structures, as well as multi-scale, spatial and temporal numerical modelling. The laboratory uses 2 codes developed by the EDF’s R&D division, namely Code Saturn and Code Aster.

IRDEP

The Institut de R&D sur l'Énergie Photovoltaïque (R&D institute for photovoltaic energy) is a joint research centre that includes the CNRS and the Chemistry school Chimie ParisTech.
Its activities range from fundamental research to industrial innovation, on thin-layer photovoltaic cells and on second- and third-generation very-high-yield concepts.

Laboratoire d’Hydraulique Saint-Venant

The Laboratoire d'Hydraulique Saint-Venant is party to an agreement with the École des Ponts ParisTech and the CETMEF (centre for technical maritime and river studies).
It leads research in fluid mechanics applied to hydraulics and the environment, including waves, maritime and coastal hazards, drainage dynamics and transport, interactions between drainage and structure for works and developments, as well as river, estuary and coastal area sedimentary dynamics.

LAMEL

The Laboratoire de Modélisation du matériel Électrique (laboratory for electric equipment modelling) is party to an agreement with the Laboratoire d'Électrotechnique et d'Électronique de Puissance (L2EP) at the University of Lille.
It aims to meet the excellence criteria in the area of field calculation applied to materials, with a view to monitoring and predicting the reliability of lifespans.

MAI

The Material Ageing Institute was founded in 2008 by EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute, USA), TEPCO (Japan) and EDF.
It combines the best scientific knowledge on the ageing of power plant materials and components, and represents two thirds of the world’s nuclear power plants. It is also a training centre, conducting annual courses for more than 250 engineers who work in power plants.
It is today composed of 11 members, among which are 6 leading members: EPRI (USA), KANSAI (Japan), CGN (China), Rosenergoatom (Russia), EDF Energy (UK), EDF and 5 associate partners (MHI, CRIEPI, TEPCO (Japan), AREVA and CEA).

MateB

The laboratory for building materials is party to an agreement with the MATEIS laboratory (materials, engineering and sciences, a CNRS, Lyon INSA and University of Lyon 1 joint research centre).
It focuses on 2 lines of research: the reduction of energy requirements, with a significant amount of research dedicated to super-insulation (new materials, characterisation methods, ageing, technico-economic modelling, etc.) and renewable energy usage improvement through improving the systems and materials used.

PGMO

The Gaspard Monge Programme for Optimisation and Operations Research, dedicated to applied mathematics, is an initiative of EDF’s R&D division, through its contribution to the Jacques Hadamard Mathematical Foundation (FMJH).
It pools researchers from all backgrounds to work on business optimisation issues (production method management, smart grid, energy purchases, etc.), of which the scientific resolution benefits the scientific and industrial communities as a whole.

SEIDO

Located on the Paris-Saclay site, the Sécurité et Internet des Objets is the EDF’s R&D and Télécom ParisTech joint laboratory dedicated to the Internet of Things and cybersecurity. It gathers experts from various areas to work on the industrial issues that bring them together, namely the safeguarding of information, control and command systems for connected objects (and industrial equipment), without degrading the systems’ performance and the means to integrate electric vehicles within the information system.

SEISM

Located on the Paris-Saclay site, the Seismology and Earthquake Engineering for Risk Assessment is a scientific interest group that includes EDF’s R&D, CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission), the École Centrale de Paris, the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan and the CNRS.
Dedicated to modelling earthquakes, from the fault to the structure, it aims to achieve a consensus on developing engineering methods for managing earthquake risks (especially for high-risk facilities such as dams or nuclear power plants) and their variation with the regulations.

RISEGrid

Located on the Paris-Saclay site, the Research Institute for Smarter Electric Grids is an EDF’s R&D and Supélec joint laboratory.
Dedicated to the study and modelling of smart electric grids and their interactions with the power system as a whole, it offers an ambitious scientific programme: the study of smart electric grids, the observability of the power system, information and communication systems to add “intelligent” functions, modelling and advanced simulation.

Académie des Sciences de Pékin (CAS)

This partnership, renewed in 2014, involves EDF’s local R&D centre dedicated to networks, renewable energies and sustainable cities. EDF is thus participating in several large-scale Chinese demonstrators focusing on smart grids, as well as in the Badaling CPS demonstrator (thermodynamic solar concentration). Furthermore, this joint CAS-IEE project has received the French-Chinese Innovation Award for all categories (2014).

Imperial College

Imperial College London is one of the best universities in the world, specialising in sciences and medicine. It collaborates with EDF on research, education and nuclear engineering training, as well as other disciplines linked to power production and distribution.

KIT

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is globally recognised for the quality of its research, especially when it comes to nuclear fusion, the environment and theoretical physics.
Together with EDF, it has created EIFER (European Institute for Energy Research), a joint research institute focusing on 3 areas: energy sources and decentralised production; energy, cities and territories; energy systems and environment economics.

Manchester

For more than 10 years, the partnership between EDF’s R&D, EDF Energy and the University of Manchester has led to cutting-edge research in the areas of nuclear energy (Dalton Nuclear Institute), materials (Materials Performance Centre) and numerical modelling (MaSC, Modelling and Simulation Centre). Ten people from the UK centre are working within the University.

MIT

The world-renowned American university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one of EDF’s long-standing partners. Together they work on projects in areas of major interest to the Group: nuclear energy (materials, safety, etc.), prospective energy (smart cities, evolution of the energy mix, the role of renewable energies, etc.) and energy efficiency.

CEA + Areva

A cooperative agreement in the nuclear energy sector was formed in 2007 between the EDF, the CEA and Areva.

In 2014, these 3 partners founded the Institut Tripartite, coordinating joint research based on their respective industrial strategies. In practical terms, this unique way of leading joint projects enables optimum efficiency and an improved knowledge of each partner’s capabilities. With a €100 million budget and 500 researchers involved, this programme mainly focuses on topics linked to commissioned pressurized water reactors (PWR): safety, radioprotection, performance, availability, operating time, fuel, innovations and new PWRs.

CNRS

The framework agreement between the CNRS and the EDF was renewed for 5 more years in November 2014. In numbers, this represents:

• More than 2,000 active collaborations (over 5 years)
• 200 CNRS laboratories involved
• Approximately 100 contracts signed per year, around 60 of which are collaborative or theses supervision contracts
• 2 joint research units, 2 joint laboratories and 1 Institut pour la Transition énergétique (ITE - energy transition institute)
• 20 joint patents

INRIA

As a natural follow-up to a long-standing collaboration, the strategic partnership with the National Institute for Research in Computer and Control Sciences, which has become an international benchmark in terms of applied mathematics and scientific computing, was made official for the first time in 2010.
It focuses on the optimisation of production systems and (“smart”) energy management. Its main objectives are stochastic modelling and visualising uncertainty, numerical analysis, visualisation and collaborative work (digitisation of industrial facilities), grid generation for intensive simulation, large-scale data management and the respect of privacy, as well as smart-grid simulation, among others.