French national power utility EDF has announced a record high in nuclear power generation in France: nuclear production rose by 3% to 416 TWh, above the Group's 410-415 TWh target ; the second highest nuclear production of the last six years. Hydropower generation declined by 12% to 37.5 TWh and returned to normal levels after an exceptional 2013 year. Thermal power generation dropped to 6.9 TWh due to lower demand (mild temperatures), a less favourable spread between power prices and fossil fuel prices and the shut down of two coal-fired power plants. This contributed to a new decrease in CO2 emissions, to 17 g/kWh in France (102 g/kWh at group level). Total power generation in France decreased by 1.5 TWh to 460 TWh in 2014. In the United Kingdom, nuclear power generation dipped by 4.2 TWh to 56.3 TWh (unplanned outage at the Heysham 1 and Hartlepool plants). In Italy, Edison's hydropower generation increased by 5 TWh.
Total investments remained stable in 2014 at €12bn; in France they remained stable at €8.7bn (excluding Linky smart meters), while they rose by almost 30% in the United Kingdom due to new nuclear and greater disposals of wind farms in 2013 than in 2014. Renewable investments by EDF Energies Nouvelles rose by 7% to €634m.