Press release
Paris, July 4. 2012
The French Independent Association of Electricity and Gas (AFIEG) welcomes BKW France and NOVAWATT as new associate members
The AFIEG (French Independent Association of Electricity and Gas) is pleased to welcome two new associate members operating on the French energy market: BKW France and NOVAWATT.
With these new associate members, AFIEG consolidates its broad representativeness of new players on the French energy market.
It also reinforces the association’s position in favor of a new dynamic in the French energy sector in order to strengthen our country’s industrial competitiveness.
BKW operates in France in the production, wholesale and load balancing segments, through its drawing rights on two EDF nuclear power plants and its contractual relation with RTE. The company has a total annual turnover of more than €2 billion. Throughout Europe, BKW owns a total installed capacity of 2795 MW and produced 10 TWh in 2011. Moreover, BKW applied to the reallocation of some French hydroelectric concessions.
NOVAWATT is a French company created in 2006, which operates decentralized electricity production facilities composed of combined heat and power (CHP) and peak load plants, with a capacity of more than 200 MW. Novawatt sells the electricity it produces on various wholesale market segments, thus participating in the general balance of the electric system. It also adapts the functioning of its power plants to market signals in order to reduce in carbon dioxide emissions.
The AFIEG, created in March 2012 and headed by Fleur Thesmar, aims at being a key contact point for public decision makers and at promoting alternatives to the current malfunctions of the energy market, in favor of final consumers. Its founding members are ALPIQ, ENEL-ENDESA, EON and VATTENFALL. AFIEG works at promoting an open and fair competition on energy markets and, in that regard, will share its independent expertise on energy issues in France, based on its members’ experience of open markets elsewhere in Europe.