Fabrice Fourcade Photo: Courtesy of EDF China

Editor's Note:

During the official visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to China from Monday to Wednesday, deals in various sectors such as energy, aviation and e-commerce will be signed. French energy company EDF will sign two contracts during this visit. Fabrice Fourcade (Fourcade), chairman of EDF China, had an interview with Global Times reporter Chen Qingqing (GT) on Tuesday, talking about bilateral energy cooperation.

GT: After the US announced its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, China has been under the spotlight on fighting climate change. Also, China has recently launched a market-based system to cut carbon emissions. How will EDF respond to China's efforts in fighting climate change and what were the major aspects of cooperation between EDF and Chinese companies in 2017?

Fourcade: EDF Group is a steady advocate of putting a price on carbon dioxide emissions. We believe it is an effective way to guide investments toward low carbon solutions, and this is really true for the electricity sector. In that respect, the launch of the carbon market in China is very good news and will give a framework for the energy transition. EDF is developing renewable and nuclear energy in China. They are crucial to supply carbon-dioxide-free electricity. We just signed two contracts with Chinese municipalities for cooling and heating networks. Energy efficiency is key to improving the carbon footprint of industrial facilities or cities.

GT: What will Emmanuel Macron's ongoing visit mean to bilateral business relations? How will EDF's strategy in China evolve in 2018?

Fourcade: Energy cooperation and especially nuclear energy cooperation is one of the pillars of relations between France and China. It already has a rich history of 30 years with many achievements. Every official visit boosts the partnership and the projects. EDF's strategy in China will stick to our group's priorities: developing low carbon electricity production and tailor-made offers to meet our customers' needs with energy services and decentralized solutions. In 2018, in particular, we are targeting new development in offshore wind and innovative cooling networks.

GT: As China has been growing into a nuclear power on the global stage, how will EDF cooperate with Chinese companies in this aspect? Some projects have encountered setbacks. For example, media reports said in December 2017 that the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) designed by the French company Areva and constructed by China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) with EDF in southern China has met another setback. How will the company tackle those challenges?

Fourcade: The partnership between EDF and CGN is strong and has a very rich track record with major industrial achievements. In China, the Taishan EPR nuclear plant, in which we are a co-investor alongside CGN, has achieved significant progress in 2017 with the completion of the hot functional tests.

In 2018, it will be the first EPR in operation in the world, as it was officially acknowledged by both heads of state on Tuesday during an official ceremony in Beijing.

The next chapter of our partnership with CGN will be the UK projects.We are jointly developing the Hinkley Point EPR power plant and we will cooperate on two other nuclear plants in Sizewell and Bradwell.

This interview has been edited and condensed.