Energias de Portugal
The Energias de Portugal, SA ( EDP) is a Portuguese corporation with headquarters in Lisbon and one of the largest energy providers in Europe. Besides Portugal, EDP is also present in Spain, France, Belgium, Poland, Romania, United States and Brazil.
Company Profile
Due to less fossil fuels in Portugal there is in this country a number of hydroelectric power plants, many of which are operated by EDP.
History
The first use of electricity in Portugal dates back to 1878 when the royal family of six electric lamps from Paris on the occasion of a birthday imported. 1891, the first company got to supply the city with gas and electricity concession from the municipality of Lisbon. This was followed by the first electrical installations and connections of houses very wealthy people. The city of Braga was served by a Northern European energy company in 1893 with electricity. From 1900 the municipalities were responsible for the award of contracts and concessions to local energy companies. The state government took over the assignment for power plant concessions.
The new rules adopted in the 1940s for the national electrification made the creation of the Companhia Nacional de Electricidade, first forerunner of today's EDP, possible, which began the statewide network of energy systems. After 1950, followed by the construction of larger power plants. In 1960, the national transmission systems have been integrated into the Companhia Nacional de Electricidade.
After the previously existing Portuguese dictatorship was ended by the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the Marxist government renationalisierte the power generation and transmission networks in the country. The following year, 1976, the merger of the energy systems in Electricidade de Portugal was newly established with the aim to strengthen the overall supply and use of energy in Portugal and set a nationwide uniform tariff.
The political and economic unrest in Portugal in the 1980s combined with a strong increase in energy demand caused a lot of problems for the relatively young EDP. Investments in the energy sector of the country have 1976-1980 more than tripled since the state was trying to saturate the enormously growing demand for energy.
As one of the few internationally recognized and trusted SOEs Portugal managed EDP at this time support from the World Bank and other investors get for new energy projects. Despite these favorable external perception the government curbed financial support, whereby the debt of EDP reached frightening heights in the politically difficult time. The late 80s and early 90s, the deficits grew dramatically, so that the government adopted fundamental reforms to restructure the energy sector.
Already in 1981, owned and operated EDP approximately 41 hydropower plants in Portugal to import independently to produce energy.
The drastic reorganization and restructuring were completed in September 1994. EDP had a holding structure to get to the CPPE ( Companhia Portuguesa de Energia de Producao ) as a production subsidiary and the REN ( speech Electrica Nacional) for resale, and for networks.
As an energy provider in Brazil EDP her first appearance in 1996.
In 1997 Electricidade de Portugal was partially privatized With the privatization of EDP, the number of employees of about 15,000 was reduced to around 8,000 employees.
EDP 2000 had a strength of around 14 867 employees and annual sales of about 3.61 billion U.S. dollars.
In October 2004 the former Electricidade de Portugal in Energias de Portugal ( EDP) was renamed. This change of name was completed in preparation for the then proposed acquisition of the Portuguese gas company Gas de Portugal (GDP ), but this was ultimately prohibited by the regulatory authorities.
Since 2004, the EDP holds the majority share of the Basque Hidrocantábrico Group, the third largest Spanish electricity company.
In May 2006, the EDP has opened its own Electricity Museum in Lisbon. The museum is housed in the former engine rooms on the banks of the Tagus
In spring 2007 the EDP took over the power company Horizon Wind Energy by the investment bank Goldman Sachs
Energias de Portugal holds a 60 percent stake in the alternative energy company EDP Renováveis .
Privatization in 2011
In the wake of the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area, the Portuguese government sold as part of the planned redevelopment of the own state budget their share of the EDP to a residual share of four percent; 21.35% of the shares took over in late 2011, the China Three Gorges Corporation ( CTG) for 2.69 billion euros, although Chancellor Angela Merkel had previously intervened in the date, Pedro Passos Coelho, the new prime minister for a sale to E.ON. CTG will invest about another 8 billion euros in the EDP medium term.
Ownership structures
In December 2011, the Portuguese government sold a 21 percent stake in the China Three Gorges Corporation.
The shares of EDP Renováveis has on the Portuguese Stock Index 20 a weighting of 14.95 %.