EDF / 2018 Reference document

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PRESENTATION OF EDF GROUP Research & development, patents and licences

In France, over the past few years R&D has set up about fifteen laboratories on a joint basis with academic partners and technical or industrial centres. With them, it is participating in collaborative research projects funded by several national desks. Each shared laboratory offers an opportunity to establish a combined team in order to focus on a common scientific and technical problem, with a view to creating value, expertise and knowledge for all partners; this constitutes a major asset when taking part in cooperative projects. R&D also supports a few specially targeted teaching and research chairs. In the field of nuclear R&D, a three-way agreement between CEA, EDF and AREVA was agreed upon at the beginning of 2014 and was renewed in 2017 (Framatome replacing AREVA). This new “Institute” agreement is designed to increase R&D programme coordination between partners and to make available programmes defined with reference to detailed goals, particularly industrial goals. In practical terms, this entails the following: formation of a Three-Party Programme Team (équipe programme tripartite, EPT), ■ responsible for programme supervision and coordination. This team consists of four members per partner, for a total of 12 members; detailing of these programmes in the form of projects monitored by the EPT; ■ implementation of these programmes in existing shared laboratories. ■ At the same time, the three-party agreement on R&D between CEA, IRSN and EDF was also the subject of negotiations in 2014, this has led to the signature of a four-party agreement including AREVA NP (now Framtome), allowing enhanced coordination with the “Institute” policy. R&D is also present within the Energy Transition Institutes (Instituts de la transition énergétique, ITE) which were set up as part of France’s “Investments for the Future” initiative: the Île-de-France Photovoltaic Institute (IPVF): EDF is one of the founding ■ members of this Institute, which seeks technological breakthroughs in photovoltaic energy that is competitive in the market. Ultimately, the Institute will bring together some 150 researchers seconded from the different partners to work with state of the art equipment located at Saclay. The new building designed to house the IPVF was completed in autumn 2017 and EDF and IPVF staff moved there from EDF's R&D facilities in Chatou. This building complex with a floor area of around 8,000 square metres and combines tertiary space and laboratories is located on the Paris Saclay Campus in close proximity to EDF Lab.; France Énergies Marines, a non-profit organisation devoted to marine energies ■ and offshore wind farms; SuperGrid, focusing on major transport networks to connect remote renewable ■ energy production sites; Vedecom, devoted to electric mobility; ■ efficacity, working on energy efficiency and sustainable cities; ■ INEF 4 working in the field of building rehabilitation and sustainable ■ construction. EDF is also the driving force behind ConnexITy, an R&D programme aimed at connecting, through digital technology, players in the nuclear sector in order to simplify power plant operation, site preparation and design. To respond to this a new laboratory was opened in November 2017, ConnexLab at EDF Lab Paris-Saclay. EDF is also a founding member of several European associations recognised at the EU level, such as Nugenia for nuclear power and EASE for storage. Since the early 2000s, EDF has had a research centre in Germany, EIFER, in collaboration with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). This centre is chiefly devoted to decentralised production (fuel cells, hydrogen), sustainable cities and territories, geothermal energy, and biofuels. This centre was recently reorganised to increase the focus on hydrogen issues and also on innovations in technologies and business models being developed in Germany within the framework of EnergieWende. In 2018 EIFER enhanced its hydrogen expertise as one of the main

contributors to the research initiatives conducted under the Group's Storage Plan. That same year the Japanese research foundation CRIEPI, EIFER and Edison's R&D centre stepped up their cooperation begun in 2017 with common working groups meeting in Japan and Europe. The EIFER centre also supports the commercial subsidiary EDF Deutschland in its sales and marketing development projects in the German market through the integration of innovative solutions in its range of offers. Following on from the contracts signed in Singapore, EIFER sealed a business agreement in Russia to implement the EDF City Platform in a new planned development near Moscow. Since 2010, research activity has increased internationally around several centres: in the United Kingdom, China, Singapore, the United States and Italy. The United Kingdom centre consolidates the Group’s positions in the British research eco-system, particularly through Strathclyde University in the field of renewables, as well as with Manchester University, Imperial College, the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and the University of Bristol in the field of nuclear energy. In 2012, this research centre became an independent legal entity, EDF Energy R&D UK Centre Ltd, a subsidiary of EDF Energy. This new status has raised EDF’s profile and research capability in the United Kingdom, in line with the Group’s development strategy. The centre thus provides direct support to the activities of EDF Energy business units whether in the existing nuclear field (extension of AGR reactor lifespans, decommissioning), or in new projects with the installation of an antenna in Bristol to support the HPC project and help solve its environmental problems. The centre is also fully mobilised, in digital solutions for clients and offshore wind farm projects for which it is the reference centre for all the Group's projects in France and abroad. The Beijing centre is an asset in terms of participating in large-scale Chinese smart grid demonstration projects for smart grids, or nuclear facilities (see section 1.4.5.3.6.1 “Activities in China”). The centre was reorganised in 2017 to provide direct support to EDF China's business units in line with EDF China's “Go 2020” strategic plan. It thus supports sustainable cities and more broadly local multi-energy projects combining electricity, heating and cooling networks. It also provides support to the new renewable energy development entity established in China, and the centre increased its cooperation with several Chinese public and private partners on CSP. China's massive investment in electric vehicles make the centre a key vantage point from which to monitor the technology and business models arising there. Lastly, the centre has developed an extensive partnership with the China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI) of the network operator, State Grid, in the field of networks and notably on the issue of integrating renewable energies in the grids. In support of Edison's business development goals, the R&D centre has developed programmes in the field of digital customer solutions and the “Connected Home” in partnership with the French and UK R&D teams whose business units are facing the same challenges in terms of developing new customer services in competition-oriented markets. This work relies on the joint Edison and the University of Turin laboratory established to deal with these issues in 2015. As noted above, the Edison R&D centre is actively involved in research work in the hydrogen field. It also invested heavily in its data analysis capabilities. The United States R&D and innovation sector is one of the largest and most buoyant in the world. EDF has had an R&D and Innovation team in Silicon Valley for several years, which supports EDF’s development in the USA and contributes to innovation in the Group. EDF Innovation Lab’s areas of activity include, in particular, analysis of technological, digital and regulatory trends and the assessment of new business models for the Group in the USA, in connection with distributed energy resources and micro-grids. EDF Innovation Lab has thus supported EDF's International Management which markets an 'off-grid' access to electricity offerings in certain African countries with the Californian company OGE. Since 2017 EDF Lab has participated in several innovative electric mobility and micro-grid demonstration projects with top-notch partners such as Stanford University. EDF Innovation Lab has also contributed to the long-standing partnerships developed by EDF with elite establishments such as EPRI, MIT and UC Berkeley.

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I Reference Document 2018