#France

KOREA and FRANCE, Paris: GE and LSIS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for comprehensive cooperation in power, smart energy, and smart factory solutions.

UK, London: Over the next two years General Electric plans to cut up to 6,500 jobs in energy units the company bought from Alstom.

South Africa: South Africa’s largest utility company Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. signed a 150 million-euro (nearly $160 million) credit agreement with France’s development agency to enhance reliability of the power grid and help the power company improve distribution of electricity.

France, Paris: Yesterday GE announced that it had completed the acquisition of Alstom’s power and grid businesses, following the regulatory approval of the deal in over 20 countries and regions including the EU, U.S., China, India, Japan and Brazil.

France: Toshiba T&D Europe has awarded Alstom with a contract to supply its high voltage equipment for the power transmission interconnection between Italy and Montenegro.

France: Alstom has been awarded a contract worth over €300 million by TERNA Rete Italia, a company fully owned by TERNA, the Italian electricity transmission system operator, and Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE), its French counterpart, to build two High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) converter stations for the transmission link between France and Italy.

Switzerland, Zurich: The electrical transmission system operator RTE France has awarded ABB a contract worth around $25 million for the supply of transformer products and services for the ongoing offshore wind power projects that will help boost France’s renewable energy supply.

ABB to exhibit eco-efficient distribution transformers at CIRED in Lyon

France, Brittany: France’s first subsea tidal power plant built by GE Power Conversion for Electricité de France (EDF) near Paimpol-Brehat, Brittany, will be completed at the end of 2015.

France, Paris: French group Schneider Electric plans to move production of its biggest-selling power transformers to Poland and cut as many as 170 domestic jobs, reports Reuters citing the French daily Les Echos.

Spain, Madrid: Spain, Portugal and France sealed the agreement on boosting energy cooperation as a step towards reducing energy dependence on Russian energy supplies.

France, Cattenom: Reactor Unit 3 at the Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant located close to Luxembourg-France border in the Cattenom commune, France, has been shut down after an electrical fault was detected in the main power transformer.

France, Corsica: A French electric utility company EDF has inaugurated a new substation at Loretto location in Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica.

France, Paris: The French Transport Authority, STIF, has ordered a further ten MI09 double-deck trains from the Alstom-Bombardier consortium as part of the €95 million contract awarded to Alstom.

France, Cadarache: After several years of research and testing, the first ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) convoy will pass through Étang de Berre today.

Germany, Dresden: HIGHVOLT Prüftechnik Dresden GmbH has appointed ANICIA as their new distributor in France.

France, Rhone: The ERDF transformer at Dardilly substation caught fire on New Year’s Eve leaving 14,000 electricity customers without power in Dardilly, Ecully, Champagne, Limones and a few more minicipalities near Lyon in the Rhone-Alpes region of France.