Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman and CEO of the EDF group, visited Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin. Five weeks after the passage of Hurricane Irma, the temporary recharge phase is now complete and EDF undertakes to take an active part in the reconstruction program piloted by the State.

The CEO of EDF went to the Northern Islands, to meet Group employees mobilized 7 days a week for more than a month to restore the public electricity service in Saint Barthélemy and Saint-Martin. On this occasion, Jean-Bernard Lévy praised "the unfailing mobilization of the employees and in particular that of the 7 volunteers who came in reinforcement" as well as the "remarkable collective performance of the public electricity service serving the territory". Despite the particularly difficult conditions of intervention, and the occurrence a few days after cyclones José and Maria, EDF re-established, as of September 200, an emergency electricity supply to vital and priority sites on the island (hospital, factory desalination, airport…).

In accordance with the commitments made by EDF to the President of the Republic, the provisional recharging phase allowing access to electricity to all the inhabitants of the island is now complete. This first step will be followed, in the coming weeks, a phase of securing and consolidating temporary repairs. On the occasion of this trip, Jean-Bernard Lévy met with the community presidents of Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin, Bruno Magras and Daniel Gibbs, to work on the reconstruction of the island, which will take several years. The CEO of EDF assured them of the mobilization and full support of the Group as well as of EDF's commitment to actively contribute to the reconstruction of the Northern Islands. The reconstruction represents an opportunity for the Group to improve the resilience of networks and structures to climatic hazards but also to initiate the energy transition of the island. Jean-Bernard Lévy announced in Saint-Martin that EDF was ready to launch an ambitious program to control energy demand, and proposed an evolution of the regulatory framework in order to reach 33% savings in energy by 2023. One of the measures provided for in this plan is immediate assistance to individuals to enable them to re-equip themselves with high-performance equipment (construction equipment and household appliances), for exemplary energy reconstruction. EDF also wishes to encourage the development of renewable energies in the territory of Saint-Martin.

The Group estimates that the insertion of photovoltaic solar installations, and of a battery park managed by the manager of the electric system, would allow to increase from 2% to 22% the rate of renewable energies installed on the territory of by 2023. The deployment of the digital meter on the two islands will also make it possible to optimize efforts to control energy demand and integrate renewable energies into the network.

To have… _AF

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