France: EDF Group commissions France’s most powerful wind farm, the Ensemble Eolien Catalan facility

The wind farm is equipped with “stealth” wind turbines, the world’s first solution favouring the coexistence of wind farms and weather radars.

The large-scale wind farm was inaugurated today by Jean-Bernard Lévy, President and Chief Executive Officer of EDF Group, and Antoine Cahuzac, EDF’s Group Senior Executive Vice President in Renewable Energies and Chief Executive Officer of EDF Energies Nouvelles.

The Ensemble Eolien Catalan wind farm is located in the municipalities of Baixas, Calce, Pézilla-la-Rivière and Villeneuve-la-Rivière, Pyrénées-Orientales department. Developed, built, commissioned and operated by EDF Energies Nouvelles, EDF Group subsidiary dedicated to renewable energy, the wind farm is comprised of 35 turbines, each with a unit capacity of 2-3 MW.

The 96 MW Ensemble Eolien Catalan facility is now France’s most powerful wind farm, ahead of Salles-Curan (87 MW), commissioned by EDF Energies Nouvelles in 2008. Output is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 120,000 people, or 25% of the department’s population.

This high-tech facility is equipped with “stealth” wind turbines. This innovation, borrowed from the military stealth technology, is the result of a partnership between EDF Energies Nouvelles, Danish turbines manufacturer Vestas and QinetiQ, the international defence, security and technology company. With a technology that sharply decreases the reflectivity of their components, the stealth wind turbines significantly reduce their footprint on the radars operated by Météo France, such as the one located close to the wind farm.

The wind farm will be operated and maintained by EDF EN Services, EDF Energies Nouvelles’ dedicated subsidiary.

With the commissioning of this new facility, the Group operates 51% of the wind power capacity located in the region and a total of over 1.1 GW across France.

During the inauguration, Jean-Bernard Lévy, President and Chief Executive Officer of EDF, said: “European leader in low-carbon electricity, EDF Group is present on all renewable sectors. As part of our CAP 2030 strategy, we will further accelerate our development in these energies in France. This illustrates our aim to build a diversified generation mix serving the energy transition. Technological innovation has always been at the heart of our commitment and will be a major driver of this development.”

A key player in energy transition, the EDF Group is an integrated electricity company, active in all areas of the business: generation, transmission, distribution, energy supply and trading, energy services. A global leader in low-carbon energies, the Group has developed a diversified generation mix based on nuclear power, hydropower, new renewable energies and thermal energy. The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to approximately 37.6 million customers, of which 27.8 million in France. The Group generated consolidated sales of €75 billion in 2015, of which 47.2% outside of France. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange