All the lights are now green for the renationalization of EDF. On June 8, the state will control 100% of the company. This takeover initiated by the executive should notably make it possible to stimulate a new dynamic for the nuclear sector. EDF may be on a new course and a light at the end of the tunnel finally seems to be emerging!
The challenge is however daunting as the year 2022 was annus horribilis. On the financial level first, 17.9 billion euros of deficit and a historic debt which now reaches 64.5 billion euros. On the commercial side, the year was marked by the sale of electricity, even though purchased at a very high price, at prices that escaped the simple law of the market. Finally, in terms of infrastructure, the corrosion of the power plant fleet has highlighted an even more worrying problem: the erosion of the know-how that made it possible to ensure their operation. If the choices imposed on the company are not unrelated to this situation, the questioning must nevertheless be collective.
For too long, EDF has suffered the consequences of a nuclear sector left adrift by public authorities blinded by the apocalyptic discourses and the Zadist behaviors of ideological ecology. As early as 2012, by announcing that he wanted to reduce “the share of nuclear power in electricity production from 75% to 50% by 2025”, François Hollande had deliberately compromised the future of an entire industry. This historic fault, endorsed for too long by the current tenant of the Elysée, torn apart by the ravages of “at the same time”, has led to relegating the purchasing power of the French and the sovereignty of our country to a simple variable of politician fit.
The ravages of the “deconstruction” of minds
Worse still, these long years were not only marked by the dismantling of power stations, but also by the “deconstruction” of minds. The sector of the future has been continually presented as a deadly industry. What should have been the pride of our country had become a national dishonour. The most effective way to decarbonize our economy has been singled out as the most significant danger to our planet.
A situation that has led EDF to adapt year after year: reduction in its workforce in the atom sector, lack of renewal of the power plant fleet. As a result, our production has gone from 452 terawatt hours in 2005 to 279 in 2022 and here is France forced to heat this winter by importing massive amounts of electricity from German coal mines. Shame !
By invading Ukraine, Putin brutally led the French to demand from their leaders an end to this childishness. Macron pulled himself together and the eco-leftists coincidentally changed the subject.
EDF still has its place at the table of energy giants
So hope is reborn. Because even if the situation of EDF is worrying, it is no longer desperate. The turn, albeit late, made by the President of the Republic will help restore the image of the company while giving it a second wind. The construction of six new EPR reactors could well be the spearhead of a renaissance for the nuclear industry, and the company has understood this well. Welders, blacksmiths, boilermakers, the company now plans to recruit 10,000 professionals per year. An ambitious figure but necessary to reconnect the current in the EDF machine. A process which, if it will take time, can now count on the support of public opinion which is more aware of the irresponsible choices in which a certain left is trying to lock up our country.
To once again become a flagship of our economy, the tricolor electrician is also counting on innovation and future technologies to diversify its sources of supply. Launch of its hydrogen plan, recent acquisition of its fifth offshore wind farm: EDF proves that it still has its place at the table of the giants of the energy sector.
Finally, anticipation and innovation: two concepts too often forgotten which should, I hope, inspire those who govern us!
“We owe you more than the light” was the slogan that EDF broadcast on our televisions a few years ago… To think about.