EDF France CEO makes express visit

One morning and then it's gone. The CEO of EDF France paid an "official" visit to Saint-Barthélemy on Wednesday December 10. Bernard Fontana, who was appointed Chairman and CEO on May 5, did not include a press conference on his agenda. In fact, his visit to Saint-Barth was part of a tour of the West Indies designed to introduce himself to staff and inspect the company's structures. Nevertheless, the CEO did make a few announcements.
At around 7:45 am, the EDF CEO landed on the tarmac of Saint-Barth airport in a plane from Saint-Martin. Accompanied by Regional Director Marie-Line Bassette and SEI (Systèmes énergétiques insulaires) Director Antoine Jourdain, Bernard Fontana immediately headed for the EDF power plant in Public.
After meeting the staff, he toured the production plant. This was an opportunity to discuss the possibility of the new plant being built by EDF Production Électrique Insulaire (PEI). It remains to be seen whether agents would then benefit from PEI status, which was one of the demands made during the strike in December 2022 (JSB 1499 and 1500). In an encouraging sign, the President of EDF PEI, Chloé Pfeiffer Lenoir, was present alongside Bernard Fontana in Saint-Barthélemy.
At around 9:45 a.m., the CEO left the site with the delegation for the Collectivité territoriale hotel. There, Bernard Fontana met with several elected officials (President Xavier Lédée, Senator Micheline Jacques, Councillors David Blanchard and Fabrice Querrard) in the presence of representatives of the Prefect.
The arrangements for the construction work (including the installation of temporary engines on one of Ouanalao Environnement's plots of land) were discussed, as was the signing of the project in January 2026. Invitations to tender could then be issued in the following weeks. The discussion also focused on "the progress of ongoing negotiations with the Commission de régulation de l'énergie (CRE) and the Direction générale de l'énergie et climat (DGEC).énergie et du climat (DGEC) with a view to signing the framework agreement enabling national equalization to be maintained for the inhabitants of Saint-Barthélemy", explained Senator Micheline Jacques.
The "lightning" visit ended at around 11:30 am. The EDF management representatives and Bernard Fontana then boarded another plane, this time bound for Guadeloupe.
If visits from EDF's CEO are rare overseas, they are even rarer on Saint-Barth. Bernard Fontana's visit was prompted by announcements made in September by EDF Archipel Guadeloupe regional director Marie-Line Bassette.
The director had come to meet the elected representatives of the Collectivité to "exchange ideas on how we see the future" of the power plant. Major renovation work was discussed, as part of a project estimated to cost between 380 and 400 million euros. "The big difficulty we're having in terms of the timetable is that we're looking ahead to the signing of the PPE to establish the stages. But we've been waiting for several years," Marie-Line Bassette (JSB 1632) told JSB.