Sébastien Laye is a graduate of HEC in economics and of Sciences Po, a law degree. He is a research associate in economics at the Thomas More Institute.
Reindustrialization, relocation, decarbonization, our political suitors have been drinking (or getting drunk) on these words for several months, trying to respond to concerns about employment, the desertification of some of our territories, and more recently to the anxiety on purchasing power, inflation and rising energy costs.
This trilemma - reindustrializing while decarbonizing and protecting purchasing power - is a real economic challenge, but it is more industrial than purely political.
It asks beforehand, at least, for the politicians, to bring together under the same leadership (the same minister) the energy, industry and energy transition components.
Here is a large State Secretariat under Bercy or an essential component of Bercy, as you wish,
EDF is the alpha and omega of all energy policy in France, as its historic, almost monopolistic position makes it essential for defining the nation's energy policy.
And as the majority shareholder, the state is responsible for its strategy.
Sebastien Laye
The spearhead of this policy is EDF, a company certainly controlled by the State, but listed on the stock exchange and therefore with private shareholders.
EDF is the alpha and omega of all energy policy in France, as its historic, almost monopolistic position makes it essential for defining the nation's energy policy.
And as the majority shareholder, the state is responsible for its strategy.
To understand the Herculean challenges awaiting EDF, we must first recall here the errors not only of the French State, but of Brussels.
By dint of wanting too much to do politics precisely and for the publicity effect, the public authorities have put this company in an inextricable situation: let it be allowed to say here that the priority is not
is not an energetic takeover of the electricity producer by the public authorities, but rather letting it apply a real industrial strategy.
If EDF, to apply this vision, wants to be able to access the capital markets (and not be a barrel of financial Danaïdes for the taxpayer), it would be necessary to start respecting minority shareholders and small French shareholders.
The latter have savings that the French state does not have to precisely finance EDF's industrial policy.
The European Commission remains very ambiguous with EDF, between its declared objective of climate neutrality in 2050 and its criticism of both EDF's market share and its nuclear choice.
However, it is obvious that nuclear power must be part of the panoply of renewable choices,
alongside solar in particular.
Financially, it must be treated as such, including in the taxonomies of Green Bonds or the financing of the European recovery plan Next Generation EU.
Read also "Stubbornness in nuclear power will kill EDF", judge Julien Bayou
I would be much more ambitious here (since European credits exist and Europe is changing its position on the subject) than presidential candidates.
We cannot just say that we should not close nuclear power plants (Macron's initial error with Fessenheim then the abandonment of Astrid, before coming back to it a few weeks ago).
A new wave of reactor construction is essential in France, the construction of six EPRs must be launched as soon as possible to put them into service from 2035, because the procedures and the construction take time.
On non-nuclear renewables, to properly support our growth, the ambitious objective would be to reach 100 GW in ten years, i.e. a tripling of capacity, mainly in solar,
hydroelectricity, and a little offshore wind power on the margins.
The group must be in working order for that and the abandonment of the Hercule reorganization project was damaging to it.
It must be allowed to reorganize around its customers and funding channels.
EDF is already overtaken in the energy transition by its competitors Enel, Iberdrola, and even by the oil companies: TotalEnergies (a juggernaut which already weighs five times the market capitalization of our national producer country) will quickly become EDF's leading competitor on the green electricity niche.
It must be allowed to reorganize around its customers and funding channels.
EDF is already overtaken in the energy transition by its competitors Enel, Iberdrola, and even by the oil companies: TotalEnergies (a juggernaut which already weighs five times the market capitalization of our national producer country) will quickly become EDF's leading competitor on the green electricity niche.
It must be allowed to reorganize around its customers and funding channels.
EDF is already overtaken in the energy transition by its competitors Enel, Iberdrola, and even by the oil companies: TotalEnergies (a juggernaut which already weighs five times the market capitalization of our national producer country) will quickly become EDF's leading competitor on the green electricity niche.
Of the top 15 economic powers, 12 have nuclear power in their energy mix.
They invest massively in nuclear energy whether in renovation, renewal, construction, or in R&D.
Sebastien Laye
In reality, faced with the challenge of electricity consumption in the world (to meet the new global demand by 2030, it would be necessary to build 30 EPRs each year), all low-carbon solutions must be used: nuclear, renewables but also CO2 storage.
Of the top 15 economic powers, 12 have nuclear power in their energy mix.
They invest massively in nuclear energy whether in renovation, renewal, construction, or in R&D.
Investing today in a new nuclear reactor project means ten billion euros, a commissioning time of between 6 and 8 years and risks.
It is clear that these objectives cannot be achieved without a leap in competitiveness.
The nuclear sector must experience a shock of competitiveness and productivity, as the space industry is experiencing with private launchers and Space X: the latter sector has experienced a productivity gain of 40% despite security requirements at least as important as in nuclear power.
A nuclear Space X will inevitably emerge and will force all players to lower their costs.
Production must follow demand, which means that to reassure investors and attract capital to the sector and to EDF, the State must give visibility, and stop changing the rules of the game at regular intervals, as it has done in the past.
Sebastien Laye
The key to EDF's industrial challenges is really to let the company deploy its industrial strategy, in the face of its competitors.
Restored to working order, the group will be able to access hybrid sources of financing, public certainly with recovery plans and European credits (we dare not imagine a new French budget line), but also private because if the group were valued and managed like its competitors, it would have access to more private capital.
And the responsibility of the French state in all this?
Quite simply, to provide visibility on domestic nuclear needs.
The law in France affirms that nuclear is a base of our energy mix, while setting production ceilings.
However, production must follow demand,
It is time for the State to regain its position as an energy strategist and stop wanting to be a (bad) industrialist itself, to let EDF finally become our major national electricity producer.