At Hinkley Point EPR site, Father Christmas has brought a fabulous gift to civil works operator Bouygues: some €1,7 billion.

Hinkley Point EPR site will award to Bouygues, the French civil works operator, some €1,7 billion.

source: EDF

EPR construction represents a kind of gigantic scale. Beside being France’s nuclear nec plus ultra, the site intends to become EDF’s window in the field of nuclear power stations.

Now, the proportion of Bouygues’ share in this agreement concluded in 2014 has been identified surely to amount to €1,7 billion. In fact, Bouygues is a partner of the British Laing O’Rourke in the Bylor consortium. The joint-venture won the tender in 2014.

Therefore, Bouygues’ order book has got a fabulous gift from Father Christmas: around €1,7 billion for the construction of the buildings containing both EPR. The joint-venture, composed of Laing O’Rourke and Bouygues, were awarded the construction for Hinkley Point C in last October 2014. But this amount couldn’t  enter Bouygues’ financial statements as it was not really effective, as the joint-venture has to calculate which part was to be allocated to the French partner.

At the beginning, , the part of civil works of the nuclear power station was around £2 billion (namely €2,3 billion) but the figure changed since then.

In a press release, Bouygues has reminded that « Hinkley Point C power station will produce some 2,3 gigawatt. Moreover, it will deliver power to more than 5 million households, accounting for 7% of the total power consumption of the United Kingdom ». The project shall manage some 3,500 workers at the summit of activity.

A third contract for an EPR power station

Hinkley Point C shall be commissioned in 2025. This agreement is the third of the kind to be awarded to Martin Bouygues’ company for nuclear power stations using the new EPR technology (European pressurized reactors). Bouygues has been already chosen by Areva to build the Finnish Olkiluoto station in 2005, then by EDF for the French Flamanville station in 2006. Before, the company was involved in second-generation power stations construction in France, such as Bugey, Saint-Alban and Chooz.

But Olkiluoto as Flamanville have recorded delays and impressive overcosts. Both sites seem to concentrate incidents.

For instance, in Olkiluoto, even if civil works are not involved in the present disputes, the site has recorded a nine-years’ time delay and overall invoice has increased from €3,5 billion to €8 billion. The dispute between Areva and TVO, its Finnish client, is still waiting for decision in the hand of the International Arbitration Court, which may issue a decision this year… or in 2018. TVO claims for €2,6 billion of penalties, whereas Areva claims for €3,4 billion of damages.

Some budget deficits were seen also on Flamanville site and the total amount of invoice has more than tripled to reach some €10,5 billion. Suffering from various faulty procedures, a new one has emerged recently: the problem of carbon concentration in the tank and the lid of the reactor tank, built in Areva’s Le Creusot site. The Authority for Nuclear Safety ( the French nuclear watchdog) has required several sets of tests. This institution shall take a final decision at the end of first semester.

Gigantism of the figures, of the number of people involved, of ambitions.

Read further:

http://www.laingorourke.com/media/news-releases/2013/europe/bouygues-tp-and-laing-o-rourke-confirmed-for-hinkley-point-c-construction.aspx

http://www.laingorourke.com/media/news-releases/2015/hinkley-point-c-progress.aspx

http://www.laingorourke.com/media/news-releases/2016/bouygues-tplaing-orourke-joint-venture-welcomes-government-approval-of-hinkley-point-c.aspx

Energygeopole blog provides latest energy, nukes, oil and gas, renewables news from France, acting as a global actor through its role in the European Union, and through its majors in the energy sector. Stay connected with the latest trends and analysis through translations of relevant articles from the French press into English on a monthly basis.

Imagine that streets and roads were producing solar power. That’s Colas’ challenge: building solar-energy producing roads, a world must-have

MYRIAM CHAUVOT / JOURNALIST
"Les Échos" Oct. 13th, 2015

The road surface is composed of photovoltaic cells covered with a transparent alloy in order to resist trucks passages-- © Joachim Bertrand / COLAS

Colas, Bouygues’ road subsidiary, has designed a road coating composed of solar cells for roads and car parks. If a 2,5% rate of all road surfaces were thus covered in France, a 10% part of the country's energy needs would be met.
The "Autoroute du Soleil" is widely known in France as the holidays’ highway leading to French Riviera, but who has ever dreamt of a solar road ? (or a solar car park). That would be a real power station through the simple exposition of its coating to sun. Colas, the road works subsidiary of Bouygues, launched this newly-designed road, known as « Wattway » officially on Tuesday. Presently stepping in industrialisation scale, the coating composed of solar cells will be available from next January, after five years of research led jointly with the National Institute for Solar Energy (Ines, French acronym).
"No need to rebuild infrastructures", said Hervé Le Bouc, Colas CEO. "It’s a road coating sold in the form of concrete slabs which will cover roads or car parks". These slabs are sticked to the existing road and consist in a classic photovoltaic cell, long of 15 cm and covered with a resin substrate able to bear vehicles traffic, even trucks. That’s a kind of multi-layered structure, waterproof and designed to meet the same characteristics of abrasion and slickery as usual road coatings. " In Chambéry and Grenoble, we  have successfully tested Wattway in a cycle of one million of vehicles, namely twenty years of usual traffic experienced on a road, and the coating has not changed an inch", said Hervé Le Bouc. " That’s pretty good ", he insisted, "as solar panels are highly breakable and would have crushed together. That’s the result of Colas’ know-how and the core of it is the nature of the coating which protects these panels ".
The test area is linked through a subterranean connection to a system retrieving the energy produced by these panels exposed to sun. « Then some inverters send back the energy in ERDF grid. Either households may be fed thus directly by being plugged in the grid ".

A one-kilometer long road may provide light to a 5,000 inhabitants city.

The industrial applications of such know-how are multiple : for instance for public light, providing power for illuminated easy-to-read displays of bus stops or traffic lights in urban fields, either power needs of houses in low-density populated areas. The Wattway slabs present an energy efficiency close to that of solar panels in solar farms and have been tested by three companies with success, particularly in car park entrances. According to an ADEME assessment, 4 linear meters of road (namely 20 m2) would cover a household energy demand (heating excluded), 15m2 would feed  crossroad traffic lights and a whole kilometer would provide light to a 5,000 inhabitants towns. Wattway would reload electric cars by induction : 100m2 would provide energy to make 100,000 km yearly, according to INES.
" If a quarter of all roads were covered, we would provide all France’s energy needs", Hervé Le Bouc said. "If only 2,5% of all surfaces were covered with this road coating, we would meet at least 10% of all demand. That’s what this project is worth for ". Wattway will develop further in the next three or four years. " First, we offer to some customers to equip small surfaces : such as shopping centres car parks or parts of roads, like some 100 meters lengths, in order to test the product in real conditions. By four years, following a cruise development, we will be able to equip lengths of several kilometers".

President Hollande’s visit.

Following President Hollande’s visit in the third tester’s premises in late August, " we received many phone calls from towns, bus lines managers, who expressed interest in this coating, in order to provide power for bus stops, or  from mass distribution managers for their car parks. We will start marketing the product through 1,000 agencies located in 50 countries. By late June, we intend to end up the training of one marketer by agency. Then we will start marketing the coating in our 400 French agencies, which will sell Wattway in early January. We will start to export only in a second stage, to start with North America. But other countries, such as Denmark, have shown a strong interest in this new technology".
What about the cost ? «"We will charge the same rate as that of solar farms, in a way to offer an alternative mean to this kind of photovoltaic power production ", he said. "Then, everything will be subjected to the regulation defining the purchase price of this green energy ; in fact such rate would drive customers’ desire to be equipped with it, as they would probably choose to resell this energy to ERDF network, which is far more profitable than consumption of their own. "Nevertheless", Hervé Le Bouc said, " for now, customers’ wish is driven by the product image, namely the idea of green energy ".

Going further:
http://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/immobilier-btp/021398624191-colas-lance-la-route-photovoltaique-une-premiere-mondiale-1165007.php
(French)
http://www.colas.com/en/press-media-library/press-releases/press-release-1100054.html&id_communique=433
(English)

Alstom: an historical general assembly, which does not solve everything

Alstom: an historical general assembly, which does not solve everything

VERONIQUE LE BILLON / deputy service manager and LIONEL STEINMANN / reporter, on dec. 18th

Courtesy Alstom

The general assembly of shareholders is convened on Friday morning to agree to General Electric’s buyout. The State’s role, the future of joint-ventures and of the new Alstom remain blurred.

Courtesy Wikipedia

Not a thrilling assembly to come Friday morning for Alstom shareholders. They are expected to ratify the buyout agreement of the energy sector to General Electric (GE), namely amounting to 70% of its turnover, by itself amounting to €20 billion. In any case, Alstom will obtain this ratification even if the two-third majority is not reached.

At the closure of the transaction scheduled for mid-2015, the agreement plans to pay €3,5-4 billion to Alstom shareholders, whose first one is Bouygues (owning a 29,3% stake). This amounts is to be compared to the €7,3 billion to be pumped by GE in the new company and the “reshaped Alstom” will be limited to its former transport division but it will keep a presence in energy through three joint-ventures, on the State’s request. Whoever will vote for this agreement among the shareholders, it won’t clear anyway the uncertainties weighing on the group’s future.

Energy division under pressure

The staff representatives were consulted in late October during Alstom’s European Forum (namely the group’s European consultative staff institution) and 15 of them voted for GE’s buyout project against 7. If the European forum “sees opportunities”, the institution also expects “some wide risks for European employment”: The report released in late October listed some observations: Alstom is present on several small industrial sites, whereas GE is concentrated on few major ones; then Alstom focuses on internal production whereas GE buys quite a lot outside; finally there are over-capacities in gas turbines.

One of the major challenges of the buyout consists in improving Alstom’s operational results, and the group is far less profitable than GE, which claims for a synergy target amounting to “USD1,2 billion yearly from the fifth year”. Even if Alstom keeps some activity in networks, renewables and nuclear activities, the group shall never been decision-maker. Moreover, GE has not unveiled its long-term strategy in some sectors.

Transport division facing uncertainty

For months, Alstom’s managers have hammered this: focusing the group around its transport branch is a relevant opportunity. Yet several observers are sceptical, even if the company says that its order book reaches “top levels”, particularly with the €4 billion tender won in South Africa for the delivery of 600 suburb trains. Then the railway signalisation division is also ready to reach rocket records, improved by integrated activities from General Electric. But the market of high - speed trains will surely plummet in the coming years. In fact the order book has begun to fall down in French plants (see “les Échos” of November, 6^th). Then, Alstom’s rolling equipment is positioned in high range, whereas emerging economies are looking for less sophisticated but less expensive products. International competition is weighing seriously on the margins, and the situation is expected to worsen, with the merger launched by CSR and CNR, two Chinese sectors behemoths, which are weighing each by each twice as Alstom. Maybe Alstom will build some partnerships but won’t be able to avoid any buyout or merger, according to a sector specialist.

The State’s role remains unclear

In June, Arnaud Montebourg (the former Economy Minister) announced that the State would subscribe to a 20% stake in Alstom. But the Financial Authority judged that the agreement made between Bouygues and the State – namely a partial buyout of Bouygues’ shares by the State – was in fact a concerted action, which froze any action from the State for now. “This decision pleases everybody”, said a source in Bercy (Ministry of Economy and Finances). Anyway, the State has some times before moving: the agreement grants to the State twenty months after the closing of the transaction to buy back the stock. Furthermore, the French Association of minority stockholders has summoned the State and Bouygues to the Court in order to obtain the cancellation of the security lending transaction.

Courtesy the Frenglish affaires

Going further...

Read also

-http://finance.blog.lemonde.fr/2014/04/27/alstom-general-electric-siemens-un-choix-cornelien/

(into French)

-http://www.gereports.com/post/89252315760/alstom-accepts-ges-updated-offer

(into English)

-http://luciennemagaliepons.blogspot.fr/2014/06/accord-alstom-ge-pour-le-gouvernement.html

(into French)

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