EDF Hydro Engineering Centre: Supporting you with the successful completion of your hydro projects in Africa
Our speciality: Supporting our public and private customers with the successful completion of their hydro projects.
Constantly aiming for one goal: Enhancing the performance and safety of your facilities in Africa in accordance with environmental legislation.
For more than 70 years, our hydro engineering experts have been supporting the EDF Hydro fleet in France. This expertise is also being harnessed abroad. Dams, hydropower plants, penstocks, seawalls and pumped-storage plants: we span the entire range of hydro engineering.
We are constantly seeking to innovate and to develop renewable energy sources on the African continent.
EDF Hydro Engineering Centre: customised expertise
Our hydro-engineering expertise is tailored to each of your projects in Africa.
Advice, surveys and/or design & construction, our engineers and technicians respond whenever and wherever you may need them.

Our 4 types of service offerings
- Construction of hydroelectric structures
- Redevelopment
- O&M (operation & maintenance)
- Integration of intermittent renewables
SINOP dam (Brazil): Powering 1 600 000 households using hydroelectric energy
Since 2014, five of our experts have been providing on-site support to the SINOP Energy Company for the construction and operation of this hydroelectric dam with an installed capacity of 408 MW.Located in northern Brazil, this dam is being built to generate hydroelectric power. The project forms part of the country’s initiatives to develop renewable energy sources.
Our engineers are involved in laying out the hydroelectrical infrastructure for the SINOP dam. Their work comprises 2 key phases:
- A preliminary due-diligence phase
Some of the areas include: civil, electrical and mechanical design, environmental and social impact, costing, scheduling and construction logistics, Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC). - Involvement in negotiations for the EPC construction contract
The project owner is SINOP SPE. The latter is being financed by 3 power companies: Electronorte, CHESF and EDF.

Our 3 key figures

Piano Key Weir: A spillway in the shape of piano keys
This innovative spillway has been designed to improved dam safety. 10 structures are currently equipped with one.

So FLEX'hy
The PACA region (France) has chosen the “So FLEX’hy” project to optimise Flexgrid, its programme for rolling out the use of smart grids.
Together with the operator, EDF’s Hydro Engineering Centre has designed the world’s first prototype of hydro-solar power flexibility. This virtual power plant combines hydro and solar energy sources with batteries.