EDF inaugurates its first synchronous compensator in Guadeloupe to stabilize the network

Installed at the Jarry industrial site near Pointe-à-Pitre, the equipment will be "commissioned very soon," Hugo Gevret, who led the project, told the press. It is "a large alternator that runs unloaded" and helps maintain the voltage and frequency of the grid, two essential parameters in an isolated system.

In traditional electrical systems, this stability is ensured by the heavy turbines of thermal or nuclear power plants. Their rotating mass provides mechanical inertia that naturally dampens frequency variations.

But Guadeloupe, committed to decarbonization and energy independence by 2035, must integrate more renewable energies, whose intermittency does not provide this security. "Wind and solar power (...) do not provide the inertia that we seek in an electrical system: that is the role of the compensator," Hugo Gevret emphasizes.

Its continuously rotating rotor mimics the mechanical inertia of a conventional power plant, without burning fuel. The machine can absorb or inject reactive energy to maintain voltage, and react in milliseconds to grid fluctuations, a crucial parameter in a non-interconnected territory.

The investment, initiated in 2019, amounts to more than 20 million euros. The machine should "save the community five million euros and 30.000 tonnes of CO2 annually," explains Hugo Gevret, because unlike the combustion turbines used until now to stabilize the system, it emits no greenhouse gases.

This system represents a "world first" for the electricity company, noted Marie-Line Bassette, EDF's regional director. According to her, other installations are planned in the overseas territories, for which calls for tenders have been issued.

The archipelago has been hit in recent years by repeated power outages and blackouts, exacerbated by social conflicts in the energy sector. In 2024, a strike even caused a total blackout lasting more than 36 hours.