EDF Renewables
Profile
EDF Renewables is a wholly owned subsidiary of EDF Group, the French public electricity company, which is a major producer of nuclear energy and was one of the three largest gas emitters in the European Union in 2021.
The company has faced major opposition to multiple wind power projects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in México on the land of the Zapotec Indigenous peoples in the state of Oaxaca. The Zapotec successfully sued to get EDF's contract for the Gunaa Sicarú project canceled in June 2022. In France, EDF's massive 46-turbine wind farm project off the coast of Dunkirk in the North Sea was the subject of a formal challenge by the country of Belgium for obstruction of shipping lanes to the UK.
In Morocco the company is working on the Noor Midelt solar project which is sited on 2,500 hectares of land expropriated from three ethnic agricultural communities - Ait Massoud Ouali, Ait Oufella and Ait Rahou Ouali.
Wind, solar, hydro, and biomass energy.
EDF Renewables was profiled as part of the report "Green" Multinationals Exposed: How the Energy Transition is Being Hijacked by Corporate Interests.
Violations
Stories
- Green colonialism and the energy transition in Mexico: the hidden face of extractivism and industrial renewables by Josefa S. Contreras, Norberto Altamirano and Stop EDF Mexique (2022)
- Renewable energy (in)justice in Latin America by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (2021)
- Clean development or the development of dispossession? The political economy of wind parks in Southern Mexico by Chris Hesketh (2021)
- The Financialisation, Marketisation & Privatisation of Renewable Energy: 626 transactions in secondary market in 20 months cost US$289bn - Strategies for public ownership by Dexter Whitfield/The European Services Strategy Unit (ESSU) (2020)
- Bureaucratic land grabbing for infrastructural colonization: renewable energy, L’Amassada, and resistance in southern France by Alexander Dunlap (2020)
Activism
Mexico: Indigenous community wins 5-year battle against Oaxaca wind farm
Mexico News Daily | June 6, 2022
“On Thursday, and after five long years defending their rights to land, territory and natural resources, the Zapotec community of Unión Hidalgo … announced that the … [CFE] had definitively canceled the energy supply contracts with French corporation EDF,” it said.
USA: Petition: No to Industrial Solar on Farmland in Pickaway County
Change.org | December 9, 2021
An invasion is happening in Pickaway County: massive industrial solar farms are being forced on our rural community with little notice, and without regard to the lasting impact on the environment and citizens.
French unions reclaim energy as a public service
Daria Cibrario | Public Services International | April 8, 2021
The 75th anniversary comes at a watershed moment for the future of EDF, currently under the pressure of the Macron government and of the EU Commission to unbundle, opening its profitable parts to private investors (the national grid, a natural monopoly, and the EDF renewables arm), leaving the taxpayer to cover the generation park that requires massive investment and maintenance.
Mexico: Petition: STOP EDF Mexico: no to colonial ecology!
Change.org | 2020
The subsidiary of EDF Renewables, Eolicas de Oaxaca, is about to begin work on its fourth wind farm in this region, consisting of the installation of 62 new aerogenerators on a total surface of 4708 ha, the majority of which is agricultural land.
France: Strike and demonstration against the "Hercules" project to split EDF
Le Figaro | September 19, 2019
One out of two EDF employees, according to the unions, and one out of three, according to management, took part in the strike on Thursday, which was called by unions to protest the “Hercules” project to split up the group, part of which would be listed on the stock exchange.
UK: ‘The workers united will never be defeated’ – BiFab workers bring protest to EDF Renewables Edinburgh base
Claire Warrender | The Courier | July 5, 2019
More than 100 workers, unionists and members of the community joined forces outside energy giant EDF’s Edinburgh offices to demand a slice of a £2 billion wind farm contract.
USA: Palen Solar Project Final Environmental Impact Statement Out
Basin and Range Watch | May 18, 2018
Basin and Range Watch has followed and opposed all proposals to build a solar project near the Palen Dry Lake since 2009. Although different development plans and configurations have improved over the last 8 years, the impacts to the environment would be un-mitigable.
USA: American Bird Conservancy letters to EDF Renewables: Vista Mountain project
Michael Hutchins | National Wind Watch | October 23, 2017
I am writing again to express American Bird Conservancy’s (ABC’s) serious concern over EDF Renewable’s proposed Vista Mountain Wind Power Project in the sensitive Texas Hill Country/Cross Timbers region (in Hamilton, Coryell, Lampasas and Mills Counties) and associated high voltage lines and towers to connect it to the existing grid.
International:
- Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM)
- European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
- European Services Strategy Unit (ESSU)
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
- OECD Watch
- The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
France:
- Catholic Committee Against Hunger and for Development - Earth Solidarity (CCFD)
- General Confederation of Labor (CGT)
- Friends of the Earth
- Sherpa
- Stop EDF Mexique
UK:
- GMB Union
- Fife - Ready for Renewal
- Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
- Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC)
- Unite the Union
USA:
Mexico:
- Assembly of Peoples of the Isthmus in Defense of Land and Territory (APIIDTT)
- Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Project (ProDESC)
Other:
- Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) - Netherlands
& Lawsuits
Belgium complains to France over Dunkirk offshore wind turbine plan
Hannah Thompson | The Connexion | April 28, 2022
Belgian Minister for Justice and the North Sea, Vincent Van Quickenborne, complained to the European Commission over the French project... The project, from EDF Renewables, Enbridge Éolien France, RWE Renewables, and French electricity grid system operator RTE, is set to build 46 wind turbines by 2027.
Mexico: Court suspends construction of wind farm in Oaxaca, developed by EDF
Israel Gama | Global Energy | September 21, 2021
The First Collegiate Court in Civil and Administrative Matters of the Thirteenth Circuit based in Oaxaca, granted an injunction to the Agrarian Community of Juchitán so that the company Electricité de France (EDF) stops the Gunaa Sicarú wind project...
USA: $100M lawsuit over smelly Weld County fertilizer plant can go ahead after high court declines to hear appeal
Daniel Ducassi | The Colorado Sun | September 8, 2021
Heartland, which is owned by EDF Renewables, alleges that state regulators had assured them that they could sell the liquid fertilizer from the biogas facility southeast of LaSalle, but CDPHE says they only said Heartland could sell the liquid if the company got the proper approval.
Mexico: Civil lawsuit: French energy company EDF must comply with human rights obligations
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Project (ProDESC) | October 13, 2020
The energy giant Electricite de France (EDF) plans to build a wind farm on the land of the Mexican indigenous community Unión Hidalgo. The indigenous community has not been appropriately consulted about the use of their land – a clear violation of their rights.
France: Permission cancelled for a photovoltaic power plant project of EDF EN in Bretagne
Joël Spaes | PV Magazine | July 30, 2020
The Association for the Protection of the Pays Fouesnantais has been contesting, for two years, the legality of the building permit for the power plant filed by EDF Energies Nouvelles, in November 2018. The administrative court of Rennes has just ruled in its favor, based on the Coastal law.
USA: Group sues to stop Saline County wind farm
Matt Olberding | Journal Star | November 11, 2019
The lawsuit is the second one filed over the project. In July, a Massachusetts woman who owns property near the proposed wind farm filed suit against the county and EDF Renewables over the granting of right of way for the company to run underground electrical cables on her land.
EDF, partners win court battle for 948 MW of wind off France
Veselina Petrova | Renewables Now | July 25, 2019
In a press release on Wednesday, EDF said that the appeals against the projects’ administrative permits to occupy publicly owned maritime zones are now dismissed and that project development will continue.
France: EDF wins final court OK for Saint Nazaire offshore wind project
Bernd Radowitz | Recharge News | June 7, 2019
The Conseil d’Etat, France’s supreme court in administrative matters, has approved the operating permit for EDF Renewables and Enbridge’s 480MW Saint Nazaire offshore wind project, bringing to a close a lengthy process of appeals.
US landowner wins fraud and trespass suit against EDF
Plamena Tisheva | Renewables Now | August 3, 2018
A California court has found that EDF Renewable Energy Inc engaged in fraud and trespassed on the property of Solano County landowner DIII Properties LLC, law firm Downey Brand LLP said this week.
Environmental Impacts
Wind power: Engie and EDF criticized in South Africa for ecocide
Marwane Ben Yahmed | Jeune Afrique | February 7, 2023
Environmental protectors denounce half a dozen wind farm projects that would pose a direct threat to the Eastern Cape's natural parks.
France: Wind turbines: EDF definitively charged for the deaths of protected falcons
Le Figaro | December 1, 2022
EDF has been definitively ordered to compensate an environmental association for the death of a protected species of falcons in the wind farm of Aumelas (Hérault), according to a decision of the Court of Appeal...
EDF finances UK offshore wind farm delayed by birds lawsuit
Camilla Naschert | S&P Global | November 28, 2019
French utility Electricité de France SA has reached financial close on the 450-MW Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm in Scotland, which will sell its power at a price notably higher than other projects at a similar stage of development in the U.K., having been delayed for several years due to legal challenges around its planning consent.
& Relations
USA: The wind turbines on his Colorado farm are 20 years old. Who’s going to take them down?
Shannon Najmabadi | The Colorado Sun | October 23, 2022
...But the renewable energy push brings with it concerns that dogged fossil fuels, including a fear that turbines will be abandoned on landowners’ properties.
Europe's Energy Needs: Green Colonialism and Green Grabbing in North Africa
Hamza Hamouchene | Berliner Gazette | August 25, 2022
In May 2019, a consortium of EDF Renewables (France), Masdar (UAE) and Green of Africa (Moroccan conglomerate) was selected as the winning bidder to build and operate the facility in partnership with the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) for selected for a period of 25 years.
Ireland: Garda (police) presence at windfarm consultation leaves sour taste
The Clare Champion | August 18, 2022
One Garda stood in the village during the information clinic that was organised by EDF Renewables and a second Garda came in a different vehicle for a brief period before departing shortly afterwards when it was patently clear there was no sign of any public demonstration.
USA: As Demand for Green Energy Grows, Solar Farms Face Local Resistance
Ellen Rosen | The New York Times | November 2, 2021
“Ours is a small town and we all know one another and our efforts are not against our neighbors,” said Will Mayer, the executive director of the Clark Coalition, the opposition group. He added that the project could eclipse agricultural use of the region, which has already lost acreage because of other types of development.
USA: Proposal for 24 wind turbines whips up controversy in rural Wisconsin
Sarah Whites-Koditschek | Wisconsin Watch | April 14, 2021
Jim says his brother, Brian Bauman, has signed a contract with EDF Renewables to install a wind turbine and a power station on his property — directly across the road from Jim’s. “We are an agricultural community. We like our landscapes the way they are. This will make us an industrial community,” he says.
UK: EDF to build giant wind farm off the east coast of Scotland
Ed Clowes | The Telegraph | November 28, 2019
GMB Scotland secretary Gary Smith said: "The overwhelming majority of a contract based just 10 miles from the Fife coast will be delivered over 7,000 miles away in Indonesia. If politicians could not see the obvious issue with that, Mr Smith added, then Scotland had "no chance of building a meaningful renewables manufacturing sector."
USA: Solar power companies dangle millions to gain support in Niagara County towns
Thomas J. Prohaska | Buffalo News | November 12, 2019
EDF Renewables, the San Diego developer pursuing the Ridge View Solar project in Newfane and Hartland, has offered $32 million over 25 years to the towns, the county and the affected school districts.
USA: EDF to reverse Rock Falls Wind Farm property tax appeal
Tres Savage | NonDoc | November 9, 2018
Energy company EDF Renewables intends to reverse its controversial Rock Falls Wind Farm bond agreement that had complicated school financial situations for northern Oklahoma districts, according to company representatives.
Financials
BankTrack's profile of EDF Group (parent company).
Netherlands-based BankTrack tracks the involvement of commercial banks in financing business sectors and specific activities with a negative impact on people and planet.
EDF Renewables is a wholly owned subsidiary of EDF Group.
Political Influence
Open Secrets - Tracks corporate lobbying of US politicians.
OpenSecrets.org Profile of EDF Group (parent company) / EDF Renewables PAC
France: How Luc Rémont, candidate for the presidency of EDF, prepared his parliamentary hearing with executives from… EDF
Marion Deye | L'Informé | October 25, 2022
Proposed by Emmanuel Macron, Luc Rémont will take his oral test this Wednesday, October 26 at the National Assembly. L'Informé reveals his answers to the elected officials.
Import & Export Data
ImportYeti - Shipping Tracking Tool - Bill of ladings are public information that are too cost prohibitive, challenging to obtain and difficult to use for the average joe. ImportYeti's goal is to solve that problem.
USA: EDF Renewables to hold informational open house regarding solar field
Melanie Wilkinson | The Independent | June 6, 2022
Some landowners in the Hays Precinct have been voicing their concerns about the project, while others have already signed easements.
UK: 'Soil and foundation issues' hit work at EDF's $2.5bn Neart na Gaoithe wind farm off Scotland
Rob Watts | Recharge News | February 26, 2021
Development of the £1.8bn ($2.5bn) Neart na Gaoithe (NNG) wind farm off Scotland has run into difficulties amid a commercial negotiation between the project’s developer EDF Renewables and main construction contractor Saipem linked to “soil” and “foundations” issues, Recharge understands.
Procurement
CorpWatch is still gathering procurement data on EDF Renewables at this time.