EDF PEI boosts productivity and improves access to technical information with Idox solutions

Challenge:

Building innovative energy production in remote island communities

In its drive to deliver efficient and responsible production of electricity in island territories, EDF Production Électrique Insulaire (PEI) has built a number of high-performance power plants. To meet the evolving energy challenges within isolated communities, the company currently operates four power plants at Lucciana in Corsica, Port Est in Reunion Island, Pointe Jarry in Guadeloupe and Bellefontaine in Martinique, and is building two other plants in Larivot in French Guiana and Corsica.

EDF PEI also operates renewable energy facilities with integrated storage in French Guiana and wind turbines in Martinique. Further renewable energy projects are being developed with another of the Group’s subsidiaries, EDF Renewables.

The design and build of new power plants creates significant volumes of in-depth information which must remain accessible and reliable as sites transition into long-term operations and maintenance. Having used Idox FusionLive successfully throughout the construction of the four power plants, EDF PEI needed a way to retain and maximise the value of this information. The organisation required a solution that could support structured document management, shared workflows and collaboration while maintaining consistent asset identifiers and enabling tagging across both engineering documentation and its SAP Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS). Critically, this meant establishing a seamless connection between the Engineering Document Management System (EDMS) and CMMS environments.

Solution:

Connecting Construction and Operations

Idox solutions support EDF PEI at two distinct stages of the asset lifecycle. FusionLive is used during the construction phase, providing a collaborative environment for managing project documentation, workflows and validation processes. Opidis supports the operational phase, acting as a centralised repository for technical documentation across active sites.

Opidis is currently used across four thermal power plants in Corsica, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Réunion, and will also support future facilities in Larivot (French Guiana) and southern Corsica.

FusionLive was originally deployed during the construction of the first four plants, supplied as part of a wider engineering programme. Building on this experience and the positive outcomes delivered – EDF PEI selected FusionLive again for the Larivot bioenergy project, this time as a cloud-based (SaaS) solution.

This continuity reflects the organisation’s confidence in the platform and its ability to support both current and future projects.

For the Larivot development, FusionLive enables structured workflows, document validation and advanced tagging capabilities. Tag extraction and control ensure that project documentation remains consistent and aligned with CMMS requirements when transferred into operations helping to avoid costly corrections at project close.

Opidis then takes over in the operational phase, providing a stable and centralised environment for managing engineering documentation across the plant lifecycle.

Together, FusionLive and Opidis create a seamless transition between project delivery and operational use, ensuring that systems, data structures and asset information are aligned from day one.

The company also wanted a robust, long-term solution that could reduce the pressure on in-house IT teams. Idox’s dedicated migration and development services minimised the technical overhead for EDF PEI. With a dedicated Idox technical function to manage migrations and upgrades across all plants, EDF PEI has reduced the internal costs associated with IT maintenance whilst also keeping up to date the innovations in both FusionLive and Opidis. Building on this desire to avoid additional IT overhead, when EDF PEI embarked upon the construction of the new Larivot plant in French Guiana, it opted for a cloud-based, Software as a Service (SaaS) deployment of FusionLive. 

Alongside the technology, a structured change management programme has played a key role in driving user adoption and ensuring that teams fully understand how to utilise the systems effectively.

Key Benefits:

Improving productivity and operational security

Opidis has enabled EDF PEI to resolve inconsistencies in asset identification and establish a reliable link between its EDMS and CMMS, ensuring that accurate, structured data is available across operations. Combined with FusionLive, this has improved continuity from construction to operations, reducing the need for post-project corrections and providing teams with faster, more reliable access to critical engineering information.

Opidis

• Faster access to trusted documents improves productivity and safety.
  
• A centralised repository gives all stakeholders a single reliable source of information.
  
• Idox’s expert team reduces the need for internal IT support and migration resources.

FusionLive

• Centralised documentation and approvals improved collaboration across the first four plants.
  
• Operations documents could be extracted from one shared repository.
• Advanced tagging capabilities will deliver greater consistency and control during document transfer at Larivot project
• SaaS model simplifies access for external stakeholders, avoids internal infrastructure and IT administration costs for time-limited projects.