Going Nuclear: France to name new EDF boss within days
France will select the new boss of state-controlled power giant EDF in the next few days, revealed the country’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
He said: “We have short-listed a number of people, I have submitted the names to the Prime minister and the president of the republic who will decide in the coming days who will take the reins of EDF.”
Rumoured candidates include Patrice Caine, chairman and chief executive of defence electronics company Thales, Philippe Knoche, managing director of nuclear fuel group Orano, and Luc Remont, who is in charge of international operations at Schneider Electric.
EDF top executives Cedric Lewandowski and Bruno Bensasson have also been mentioned, however it is possible the Government will opt for an outsider to turn over a new leaf at the company.
The Government announced the full nationalisation of EDF – in which the state already owns 84 per cent – in July and revealed it was looking for a new chief executive to replace Jean-Bernard Levy, who has been at the helm since 2014.
EDF has faced a litany of difficulties this year, with energy giant suffering a record number of nuclear reactor outages that are aggravating Europe’s energy crisis.
Thirty of its 56 reactors in France are currently offline, with work needed repair corrosion.
It is unclear whether EDF’s pledge to get the reactors back online in time for the winter is realistic.
The shortfalls in nuclear power generation have pushed electricity prices to record highs as European countries scramble to replace Russian gas.
This has turned France – the region’s largest exporter of power – into a net importer.
President Emmanuel Macron and Levy, the EDF boss, have been exchanging blame for the reactor fiasco.
Levy told a business conference last month EDF lacked sufficient numbers of skilled workers to repair the faulty reactors.
He blamed this on the Government, which he said had told the company it needed to downsize its fleet for years to reduce France’s reliance on atomic energy.
Macron hit back at the comments on Monday, which he slammed as “irresponsible.”
He argued that he had postponed plans to cut the share of nuclear in France’s electricity generation mix for 10 years to 2035 .
In February earlier this year, Macron announced France would build at least six new nuclear reactors in the decades to come, placing nuclear power at the centre of the country’s for carbon neutrality by 2050.
EDF also has a leading role in the UK’s pledged nuclear regeneration, overseeing projects Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C.