After the liberalisation of Europe's energy markets, Gaz de France also entered into the electricity sector, having developed combined natural gas-electricity offerings.
The company's capital was partially floated on the Paris Stock Exchange in July 2005, raising €2.5 billion for the French Government.
[3] On 25 February 2006, French Prime minister Dominique de Villepin announced the merger of water supply and treatment, waste management and energy company Suez and power firm Gaz de France, with the aim of creating the world's largest liquefied natural gas company.
[6] The plan for a merger between Gaz de France and Suez came under fire from the whole of the political left,[7] which feared the loss of one of the last ways of preventing the price rises experienced over the previous three years, and by the social Gaullists and trade unions.
[12] Various holdings of Gaz de France and Suez had to be divested in order to satisfy the concerns of the European Commissioner for Competition: GDF agreed to sell its approximate 25% stake in Belgian electricity producer SPE for €515 million.
[16] The newly created GDF Suez came into existence on July 22, 2008; the world's second-largest utility with over €74 billion in annual revenues.
[22][23][24] In December 2010, GDF SUEZ became the key founding member of the 'Medgrid' company[25] – a consortium of twenty plus utilities, grid operators, equipment makers, financing institutions and investors; which will implement the Medgrid project, a French renewable energy initiative within the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).
The project, planned in North Africa, aims to promote and develop a Euro-Mediterranean electricity network of 20GW installed generating capacity, with 5GW being devoted for exports to Europe.
On April 24, 2015 GDF Suez announced it was changing its name to "Engie", in an effort to further expand the company's international footprint.
CEO and Chairman Gérard Mestrallet said the new name was a symbol to meet the challenges of the energy transition and accelerate the group's development.
[32] GDF Suez has been ranked as among the 13th best of 92 oil, gas, and mining companies on indigenous rights and resource extraction in the Arctic.
[34] In February 2020, the board of directors announces that it will not propose the reappointment of Isabelle Kocher at the next shareholders' meeting, which will bring to an end of her chief executive officer position.
[36] In July 2021, the company re-organised its structure to create four businesses: Renewables, Energy Solutions, Networks and Thermal & Supply, together with a new entity, Equans, which would bring together its technical services (including electrical, heating, ventilation & air conditioning, cooling, mechanical & electrical, digital & IT and facilities management) under one entity.
In 2021, long-term contracts with Gazprom represented approximately 20% of Engie's global gas sales and consumption, raising concerns about the company's reliance on Russian energy.
In 2015, Engie announced its decision to stop new investments in coal plants and to dispose of €15 billion in assets in order to reinvest into projects that promote low-carbon, distributed-energy.
In 2019, Isabelle Kocher announces the strategic plan of the company for the 2019–2021 period, with an ambition to become the world leader in the zero-carbon transition.
[50] The company indicated in December 2011 that 3⁄4 of the group's production comes from sources that emit no CO2 principally hydroelectricity (through CNR and SHEM) and wind power, the latter of which both Gaz de France and Suez moved aggressively into in 2007 and 2008.
With the stated aim of reaching a total production capacity of 10 GW by 2013, three gas-fired thermal power plants at Fos-sur-Mer, Montoir-de-Bretagne and Saint-Brieuc are currently in various stages of development, as is a solar panel project in Curbans.
The company also operates in North and Latin America through its Suez Energy International unit, as well as in other European and Asian countries.
[59] Engie is currently developing a $15.8 billion nuclear power plant in Sinop, Turkey in partnership with Itochu and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
[61] In December 2016, Engie announced that Azzour North One Independent Water & Power Project (IWPP) has started full commercial operations.
[62] In January 2017, Engie was awarded the contract and achieved financial closing for the greenfield Fadhili independent power project (IPP) in Saudi Arabia, the most efficient cogeneration plant in the country.
As a result, Engie abandoned two coal-fired power plants projects in Ada Yumurtalik (Turkey) and in Thabametsi (South Africa).
[66] In May 2016 Engie CEO Isabelle Kocher told a French Senate committee that it was planning a gradual withdrawal from coal-fired generation over the coming years.
The Group also assumed 100% control of La Compagnie du Vent in March 2017, and a 30% stake in Unisun, a Chinese solar photovoltaics company, in April 2017.
It also owns Pelican Point (500MW) and Dry Creek (156MW) gas-fired power stations and Canunda Wind Farm (46MW) in South Australia.
The group has announced that, by 2030, it would have invested 2 billion euros in renewable gas, 10% of which will be injected into the networks, and that it will produce 5 TWH a year of biomethane.
In 2016, Engie signed a technical and commercial cooperation contract with Göteborg Energi to push further the industrialization of the dry biomass-to-gas production approach.
[77] In 2019, Engie won a contract from the University of Leicester to oversee the development of 1,164 new student homes and the refurbishment of a grade II listed building to be used as office and study space, and the construction of a multi-storey car park and the creation of a new teaching and learning centre.
[85][86][87] Revenues: €60,1 billion (2019)[88] Revenue in each region: Revenue by activity: Capacity of installed power production: 104,3 GW[89] in 2018, of which: Produced electricity: 420 TWh[89] in 2018 Employees: 171,100[88] Employees in each region: Employees by activity: The Engie general management: The members of the group executive committee are: Engie is administered by a board of directors of 13 members: The board is backed by the recommendations of four specialized committees (audit; appointments and compensations; ethics, environment and sustainable development; strategy, investment, and technology).