EDP (formerly EDP - Energias de Portugal and Electricidade de Portugal) is a Portugueseelectric utilities company, headquartered in Lisbon. It was founded in 1976 through the merger of 14 nationalised electricity companies.[3]
History
EDP was founded as Electricidade de Portugal, E.P. by the Portuguese government though the Decreto-lei n.º 502/76 published on 30 Jun 1976,[4] merging 14 former energy companies that had been nationalised by 1975 in the aftermath of the regime change in 1974, of which the most significant had been the Companhia Portuguesa de Eletricidade (CPE).
In 1991, through Decreto-Lei n.º 07/91 of 8 January, the Government changed EDP's legal status from a Public Company to a Public Limited Company with exclusively public capital.
In May 1994, after a profound restructuration of EDP, E.P., carried out between 1991 and 1993, under the Tutelary of Mira Amaral, Minister of Industry e Energy of the XII Portuguese Constitutional Government and the Presidency of Joaquim Serrão da Silva Correia, the EDP Group have been constituted with a Holding and 19 companies,[5] six of them responding to the main core business activities: CPPE - Companhia Portuguesa de Produção de Electricidade (electricity production); REN - Rede Eléctrica Nacional (electricity transportation); and four companies of regional electricity distribution: EN - Electricidade do Norte; CENEL - Electricidade do Centro; LTE - Electricidade de Lisboa e Vale do Tejo; and SLE - Electricidade do Sul.
In March 2007, the group made a US$3 billion takeover of Horizon Wind Energy, the Texan-based wind power producer. At the time, it was the largest renewable energy deal to date and made EDP the fourth-largest wind power producer in the world.[6]
China Three Gorges Corporation, a SOE, won in December 2011 the bidding for the Portuguese government's 21.35% interest in the company.[7][8][9] The transaction is expected to be concluded by April 2012. As of February 2014, just under 45% of the ownership of EDP was controlled by five institutional shareholders.[10] Amongst the others were the Qatar Investment Authority and BlackRock.
In 2020, EDP agreed to buy Viesgo, more than doubling its presence in Spain’s electricity distribution market.[12]
On 10 April 2024, the company decided at a general meeting of shareholders to change its name to simply "EDP, S.A.", dropping "Energias de Portugal" from the name.[13] The objective was to "simplify the image" and "adjust the corporate name to an increasingly global company".[14][15]
Operations
In 2006 35% of the energy produced by EDP was from renewable energy sources, and, as of the end of 2007, the company announced that 39% of its energy was already emissions-free and that it was aiming for a 75% renewable energy production by 2013.[16]
In November 2019, EDP announced that it had reached a 50/50 Joint Venture agreement with the French gas and power company Engie to merge their fixed and floating offshore wind power activities, primarily targeting markets in Europe, the United States and selected geographies in Asia.[17]
Foundation
The EDP Foundation is a non-profit organization set up and financed by the company as a means to foster the development of cultural, scientific, and educational activities.[18] It is headquartered at Central Tejo, a former CRGE-owned 50 MW coal-powered plant at the Lisbon riverfront, decommissioned in the 1960s. Since 1990 it houses the Electricity Museum, recently incorporated in the broader MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology, which is the main focal point of the foundation's activities.
^"EDP's Annual General Shareholders' Meeting Resolutions"(PDF). EDP. 10 April 2024. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 June 2024. Retrieved 23 June 2024. The change of the Company's corporate name from "EDP - Energias de Portugal, S.A." to "EDP, S.A." was approved at the General Shareholders Meeting held on April 10th, 2024, and is pending registration.
