Ge Energy Power Conversion France

[Nell Barreto]

Forthis reason, it has always been the backbone of human progress, from the time the first people mastered fire to the steam engine of the industrial revolution, and it continues to be an indispensable element in the latest electronic devices. However, global warming has changed the situation, and once again, the way we use energy must change.

The HENSOLDT Group has a long history of working on energy-related topics. With our traditional foundation in electronic control, our power converter product range gives us the ability to develop and manufacture tailor-made integrated converters for a range of highly demanding applications, including industry, mobility and military applications. The Motion Control product line features COTS control boards as well as specific developments for industrial tools where safety and ergonomics are major focuses.

Our hydrogen-related activities have been growing steadily for more than a decade, allowing our teams to work on topics such as off-grid electricity supplies and energy storage via high-pressure H2. Our range of hydrogen products is the result of the broad skill set we have acquired in the field of energy. HENSOLDT has recently strengthened its position with new premises for manufacturing and assembling H2 tanks using filament wound carbon.

MAHYTEC offers a wide range of hydrogen storage tanks from low pressure up to 500 bar. This range is based on two primary families, which are Type IV tanks for gaseous storage and hydride tanks for solid storage. Our storage tanks are PED or TPED certified. They are designed for stationary use, hydrogen transport, and certain specific mobility applications or transportable solutions.

HENSOLDT builds on 60 years of power conversion expertise to supply custom power solutions and services to the defence, transport, maritime, energy and aerospace industries to secure and maintain their installations.

Under the CONVERGY brand, we provide a wide range of off-the-shelf and custom products for applications ranging from a few watts to hundreds of kilowatts. Our products feature a broad variety of mechanical designs to meet any and every need. Tried and tested, they are the result of a carefully controlled design process, guaranteeing their longevity. They comply with all current regulations and standards in force across their fields of application.

We are committed to our customers throughout the life cycle of their installations, providing them with services including performing diagnostics, maintaining equipment in operational condition (both HENSOLDT and third-party equipment), and monitoring and handling obsolescence to anticipate when components are reaching the end of their lives and propose alternative solutions. We also offer refurbishment and reverse engineering services for systems of any size, whether simple or critical.

HENSOLDT France has a long history of designing and installing magnetic degaussing solutions on naval platforms, including warships, submarines and frigates. Its systems are extremely reliable and are tailored to meet the specific needs and requirements of each installation perfectly.

These active systems offer significantly better protection than the passive systems typically found on the market, regulating and significantly reducing the current that flows between the shaft and the hull via the bearings.

To meet your electronic board, integrated electronic motor and mechatronics system needs, MIDI INGENIERIE offers a wide range of catalogue products as well as the development and industrialisation of your specific products.

We can produce from 10 to 100,000 units per year, guaranteeing both long-term manufacturing solutions and support. Thanks to the many technological modules we have developed in the past, we can shorten development times and respond quickly to your needs.

We specialised in a wide range of areas, including mobile and industrial robotics, specialist machines, hand-held power tools, scientific and medical research, and industry. We have previously completed projects including boards for mobile robots, multi-axis PLCs, motors with integrated command electronics, and motor controllers (brushless, bipolar stepper, piezo and DC).

We operate in the field of industrial instrumentation and process control on new installations and as part of total or partial refurbishment programmes. We offer high-performance solutions that meet the most demanding needs in terms of both safety and availability.

Our automation engineers are highly qualified, allowing them to work on major command and control projects with thousands of inputs and outputs. HENSOLDT provide comprehensive process control solutions, from programmable automation (PLC) to supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), as well as the associated network communications (IT) architecture.

France's present electricity generation mix is a result of the French government deciding in 1974, just after the first oil shock, to rapidly expand the country's nuclear power capacity, using Westinghouse technology. This decision was taken in the context of France having substantial heavy engineering expertise but few known indigenous energy resources. Nuclear energy, with the fuel cost being a relatively small part of the overall cost, made good sense in minimizing imports and achieving greater energy security.

As a result of the 1974 decision, France now claims a substantial level of energy independence and an extremely low level of carbon dioxide emissions per capita from electricity generation, since over 80% of its electricity is from nuclear or hydro.

In December 2021 maintenance checks on the primary circuit of Civaux 1 revealed corrosion near the welds on pipes of the safety injection system. Checks were then carried out on the same equipment at unit 2, revealing similar defects. EDF decided to replace the affected parts, requiring an extended shutdown of the plant, and also take its two other N4 units at Chooz B offline to carry out similar checks.

In March 2023 EDF presented an evolution to the stress corrosion control strategy to ASN. Following a laboratory examination of the cracks discovered in Unit 1 of the Penly nuclear power plant, EDF believes that an initial repair job on the affected weld likely contributed to a significant increase in the local residual stresses, giving the appearance of a stress corrosion defect.

In 1999 a parliamentary debate reaffirmed three main planks of French energy policy: security of supply, respect for the environment (especially re greenhouse gases) and proper attention to radioactive waste management. It was noted that natural gas had no economic advantage over nuclear for base-load power, and its prices were very volatile. It was accepted that there was no way renewables and energy conservation measures could replace nuclear energy in the foreseeable future.

Early in 2003 France's first national energy debate was announced, in response to a "strong demand from the French people", 70% of whom had identified themselves as being poorly informed on energy questions. A poll had shown that 67% of people thought that environmental protection was the single most important energy policy goal. (However, 58% thought that nuclear power caused climate change while only 46% thought that coal burning did so). The debate was to prepare the way for defining the energy mix for the next 30 years in the context of sustainable development at a European and at a global level.

In 2005 a law established guidelines for energy policy and security. The role of nuclear power was central to this, along with specific decisions concerning the European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR), notably to build an initial unit so as to be able to decide by 2015 on building a series of about 40 of them. It also set out research policy for developing innovative energy technologies consistent with reducing carbon dioxide emissions and it defined the role of renewable energies in the production of electricity, in thermal uses and transport.

In October 2014 the Energy Transition for Green Growth bill was passed by the National Assembly and so went onto the Senate. This set a target of 50% for nuclear contribution to electricity supply by 2025, and capped nuclear power capacity at 63.2 GWe, the level at the time. This meant that EDF would have to shut at least 1650 GWe of nuclear capacity when its Flamanville 3 EPR starts commercial operation. The bill also set long-term targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, and by 75% by 2050; to halve final energy consumption by 2050 compared with 2012 levels; to reduce fossil fuel consumption by 30% by 2030 relative to 2012; and to increase the share of renewables in final energy consumption to 32% by 2030. The Senate early in 2015 amended the bill to remove the nuclear cap, but this was not accepted in the lower house. The National Assembly approved the bill including 970 amendments in July 2015, but with the 63.2 GWe nuclear cap and only 50% nuclear supply by 2025. In October 2016 the government postponed until after the 2017 presidential and National Assembly elections any decision on which, if any, reactors would close in order to reduce the nuclear share to 50%. In 2017 France postponed its 2025 target for reducing the share of nuclear to 50%. In December 2017 the French President stated that nuclear is "the most carbon-free way to produce electricity with renewables." In November 2018, a draft of the country's new energy plan confirmed that 2035 was the new target date for the reduction of nuclear's share to 50%. The plan states that 14 of the country's nuclear reactors will shut down by 2035, 4-6 of those by 2030. However the plan also states that the option to build new nuclear reactors remains.

A government consultation document released in January 2020 named Blayais, Bugey, Chinon, Cruas, Dampierre, Gravelines, and Tricastin as the plants where EDF plans to make closures to meet the government's target. The document stated that a decision on early shutdows would be made in 2023, and that following Fessenheim in 2020, the next plant closures were expected 2027-2028.

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