EDF - Our Strategy

Industrial-scale electricity can only be generated from geothermal energy of moderate and high temperatures (above 150°C), in two ways:

• Directly from sources of steam or hot water. The EDF power plant in Bouillante, Guadeloupe, uses this type of resource. In 2004, Bouillante’s installed capacity reached nearly 16 MW with the commissioning of three new borehole wells. It thus supplies almost 10% of the island’s electricity requirements
  
• From the geothermal energy extracted from fractured rock, a technique being developed at Soultz-sous-Forêts. With the support of its subsidiary Electricité de Strasbourg and from EnBW, EDF is involved in the construction of the first unit of this type in the world, under the umbrella of a European research project. This power plant has an electricity output of 1.5 MW and will enable the Group to develop new technology using the geothermal energy in aquifers. In the long term, the Group plans to develop more hot fractured rock power plants. With an average electricity output of 3 MW, these plants would initially be built in areas where the subsurface is characterized by rift basins.
  

Low-temperature geothermal energy is extracted from shallow ground and used exclusively for heating, but may also be used to meet requirements for air conditioning. Due to its excellent energy efficiency this technology can reduce the costs of running a building by around 40%.