BIO
Until Feb. 2015 Hervé Machenaud served as Group Senior Executive Vice President of Generation and Engineering at EDF (Electricite de France SA). Mr. Machenaud was also in charge of the Asia-Pacific zone.
Mr. Machenaud started his career as Director of the Urban Planning Division at the Ivory Coast Ministry of Planning in 1973, then undertook a variety of assignments on the African continent for the World Bank before returning to France in 1978 as Structural Engineer for the District (‘Département’) of Ille-et-Vilaine.
He joined EDF Group in 1982 as Assistant Director of Development at the Paluel Nuclear Plant. From 1984 to 1989, he took charge of the Paluel's expansion into China, in particular the construction and commissioning of the Daya Bay Nuclear plant. From 1990 to 1995, Mr. Machenaud served as Director of the National Nuclear Infrastructure Centre, and was responsible for EDF's French and international nuclear programmes. From 1995 to 1998, he served as EDF’s Assistant Director of Infrastructure, responsible for Resources, Management and International Development. From 1998 to 2002, he served as Head of Generation and Transmission at EDF and then Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the Industry Branch.
From 2002 to 2009, he served as Executive Vice President of Asia at Electricité de France with the responsibility enhance the industrial expertise, particularly nuclear, and to ensure it has access to technological innovations in China, Japan, India and in the Great Mekong region. In particular, he spearheaded the joint venture projects in the fields of nuclear (Taishan), thermal (Sanmenxia), hydraulic and wind generation in China, Vietnam (the Phu My plant) and Laos (the Nam Theun barrage). He is a Non Executive Director at EDF Energy Plc and EDF Energy (UK) Limited.
Mr. Machenaud holds degrees from Ecole Polytechnique (1968), Ponts ParisTech and Sciences Po Paris.
On n'imagine pas que l'industrie puisse laisser la place à l'approximation. Son mot d'ordre est la fiabilité. C'est d'autant plus vrai dans les métiers où l'on rend un service au public, comme l'électricité: il faut pouvoir compter sur le producteur, à tout moment de la journée et de l'année. Cela devient même absolument crucial dans la filière nucléaire, pour garantir une exploitation durable, en toute sûreté, des centrales. Maîtriser industriellement l'outil est donc une condition nécessaire de la performance technique et économique de la filière nucléaire. Au cœur de son modèle industriel: l'ingénierie.
In an industrial facility, the key-concept is reliability. It is all the more true in utilities such as electric power companies, since one must be able to trust the electricity provider 24/7, year in, year out. It is even crucial when it comes to nuclear power production, where one should expect high sustainability and total safety. In this industry, rigorous mastering of the production tool is thus a necessary condition for the technical and economic performance. The heart of this industrial model is engineering.