EDF and ENS Paris-Saclay Steering Committee

In the framework of the cooperation agreement between EDF R&D and ENS Paris-Saclay signed in 2022, the partnership's steering committee met at the School on Friday, April 26th. On the agenda: progress on five research themes related to the challenges of energy transition, a major endeavor for both partners. Each theme is co-led by a faculty researcher from the School and a researcher from EDF. Joint facilitation, provided by EDF's R&D management and the vice-presidency for research at ENS Paris-Saclay, promotes cross-disciplinarity and coherence within the framework.

According to Philippe Maître, vice-president for research at ENS Paris-Saclay, 'the progress made in two years is remarkable. Collaboration topics have significantly diversified and are approached through the lens of interdisciplinarity, one of ENS Paris-Saclay's strengths. The School indeed plays a key role as an interface to foster dialogue among laboratory peers.'

For Etienne Brière, scientific director of research and development at EDF Group, 'the partnership dynamics are very positive.' Indeed, six theses, including four CIFRE theses, will be launched in 2024.

A collaboration on energy transition

EDF, facing technological and societal challenges in energy production, transportation, and storage infrastructure, aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Collaboration with ENS Paris-Saclay contributes to the success of this ambition.

Five joint research themes

• Digital and experimental mechanics

This theme involves multidisciplinary collaboration with the Mechanics Laboratory of Paris-Saclay (LMPS). Serving the performance of energy production, transportation, and storage infrastructures, research in this area covers the durability of structures, especially under seismic effects, uncertainty management, digital tools, experimental imaging, and digital twins.

• Solar and photovoltaics

In partnership with the Photovoltaic Institute of Ile de France (IPVF) since 2021, EDF and the Light, Matter, Interfaces Laboratory (LUMIN) collaborate on topics of stability and processability of solar panels integrating perovskites. These materials are groundbreaking for solar energy. They are evaluated and designed within LUMIN. This ambitious topic involves the progression of three successive theses. The first one is currently halfway through and already yielding promising results. Sustainability and industrialization are indeed the two major challenges of this photovoltaic technology, which could lead to up to 25% energy conversion gains compared to current solar panels.

• Health Monitoring of power electronics components

In the context of applications with accessibility challenges (e.g., offshore wind turbines), the objective is to remotely control power components. Technologies under development at the Systems and Applications Laboratory of Information and Energy Technologies (SATIE) are being experimented with to address this challenge.

• Modeling for improving operational safety

Leveraging the expertise of the University Laboratory for Automated Production Research (LURPA) in the field of operational safety of production units, an exploratory action is underway to develop a multi-sensor volumetric measurement tool. This tool would simplify the detection of people in proximity to radiological sources.

• Trusted AI for operational data processing
  

With three thesis actions at the Applied Mathematics Laboratory of ENS (Borelli Center) aimed at introducing advanced image processing and AI techniques, the objective is to develop the processing of large volumes of operational data related to production units.

The laboratories currently active in this partnership are:

• LMPS Laboratory of Mechanics Paris-Saclay (ENS Paris-Saclay, CentraleSupélec, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay)
• LUMIN Light, Matter, Interfaces (ENS Paris-Saclay, CentraleSupélec, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay)
• LURPA University Laboratory for Automated Production Research (ENS Paris-Saclay)
• Borelli Center (ENS Paris-Saclay, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Université de Paris, French Armed Forces Health Service) 
• SATIE Systems of Applications of Information and Energy Technologies (ENS Paris-Saclay, ENS Rennes, CNAM, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Gustave Eiffel University, CY University)