The corporate "Impulsion & Vision" project

These changes are also being made in response to a technological and digital revolution: new forms of communication, paperless processes, artificial intelligence, geolocation, etc.
In response to these changes and its customers’ evolving expectations, RTE has to adapt, prepare and reinvent itself in order to play an active role in driving these future changes.
The 2025 target of the corporate Impulsion & Vision project is based on the following key principles:

•  performance and accountability for a revamped public utility
•  boldness and innovation for successfully making changes to our industrial system;
•  agility and openness for supporting initiatives.

The corporate project is creating the momentum needed to build RTE’s future. It sets a common goal, filling each employee with a sense of purpose.  Further to the initiative undertaken in 2017 and 2018, Impulsion & Vision comprises 5 strategic focus areas jointly determined by all the company’s business units because these changes concern everyone.

Expanding RTE’s influence in Europe

By coordinating RTE’s operations on a European scale and by strengthening its ties with other TSOs, RTE is seeking to expand its influence.
Enacted in late 2018, Europe’s legislative package entitled “Clean energy for all Europeans” states that the legislation and regulation of the electricity sector and of RTE’s activities are largely European. For purposes of its negotiation, RTE produced impact studies, prepared substantiations and ran educational campaigns, either directly with the European institutions via its Brussels-based office or via professional communication channels. These actions helped to adjust some of the provisions that were not taking sufficient account of the power system’s actual situation. The challenge is now to roll out the energy package in a consistent and coordinated manner by leveraging the advantages of RTE’s industrial model, its innovative talents – including its ability to combine power grids and digital solutions – and its European initiatives.

Strengthening ties with our partners

RTE’s influence in Europe also relies on the strengthening of ties with its fellow European TSOs on a number of levels. Firstly, our neighbours with whom RTE is conducting numerous interconnection projects to enhance interdependence and solidarity between European power systems, with France’s grid being located at Europe’s crossroads. Secondly, within the European Network of TSOs for Electricity (ENTSO-E), which plays a key role in the establishment of common operating rules and their associated market mechanisms, where RTE plays an active role through the involvement of numerous employees. Last but not least, through close dialogue between European TSO executives on the subject of shared industrial challenges. The acceleration of the energy transition calls for greater coordination of Europe’s energy policies whilst at the same time strengthening cooperation between TSOs.

Driving new initiatives

Ever since it was founded, RTE has been a stakeholder in numerous European initiatives which have proven their value, such as the establishment of the south-western technical coordination centre, Coreso, the market coupling mechanism and the EPEX SPOT electricity stock exchange. Cooperation between TSOs is part of RTE’s DNA. The successful completion of the energy transition means having to innovate with all stakeholders in tomorrow’s power system. That is why RTE is now involved in several European R&D programmes seeking to develop solutions for tomorrow’s power system, which will be more flexible and more decentralised, while accommodating a growing proportion of renewables. Alongside its European partners and following the Tallinn declaration, which calls for digital solutions to be better integrated into electrical infrastructure, RTE launched the Paris forum on technological step changes within the energy sector. Last but not least, a working group representing European TSOs gave rise to a joint CEO statement in early 2019, calling for stronger coordination of energy policies between States.

A new range of front-line services catering for our customers and the regions

By developing new offerings to support and facilitate changes within the communities and by contributing to the regions’ economic growth.

RTE intends to forge closer ties with economic and regional players. This means being more attuned to the expectations of customers, citizens and public authorities and being involved in the co-construction of projects from a very early stage, as well as strengthening ties with other planners and developers.

Supporting and facilitating changes within our customer base and the regions

Our customers are becoming more and more demanding: They expect more customised assistance and advice to enhance their performance. RTE needs to continue fostering a more service-oriented approach that aligns with societal challenges and that responds to our customers’ needs. The regions have new ambitions when it comes to achieving the targets of their local energy policies. RTE’s representative bodies and business units intend to become indispensable partners of our customers and the regions by offering them flexible solutions, thanks to our recognised pool of expertise.

A range of services supporting the regions

We will be modernising our range of services in order to cater for the regions’ evolving needs. RTE is seeking to help make the regions more attractive to new businesses, to anticipate town planning projects located close to our electrical structures and to place our expertise in energy strategy at the disposal of local players.

A new range of services for RTE’s customers

RTE is expanding its range of services and making them more attractive while at the same time continuing to be one of the few TSOs that undertakes to maintain a high quality of electrical current and provide its customers with a continuous supply at all times. We are seeking to streamline grid-connection procedures for our customers by making them more flexible in order to help customers rationalise their processes and requirements in terms of location, time and cost. Last but not least, we are offering solutions to boost their competitive strength such as demand-side response, which helps to reduce their electricity bills, or real-time access to their consumption data on our services portal in order to help them control their activities more effectively.

In 2018, 88% of our customers stated that they were satisfied (+2% compared with 2017).

Enhancing agility and boosting performance within our corporate business units

By providing our employees with a pleasant work environment, by streamlining processes, by modernising workflow tools and by transforming our ways of doing business.

Corporate activities form an integral part of our operational processes. They include human resources, financial control, procurement, communication, legal, institutional relations, real estate and logistics, audit and risk management, health, safety and occupational wellbeing, corporate social responsibility and tertiary IT systems.

Transforming our corporate functions into specialised partners, enhancing their attractiveness and raising their profile will help to boost the company’s agility and performance.

Streamlining processes and modernising workflow tools

Streamlining the budgetary process, digitising the supply chain and invoicing processes, implementing new technologies and state-of-the-art workflow tools… The processes and systems used by our corporate departments are evolving in order to simplify the daily routines of our workforce.

Providing our employees with a pleasant work environment and fostering cross-functionality

The work environment is an essential factor when it comes to occupational wellbeing. RTE is upgrading its real-estate assets to provide its workforce with a setting that caters to their requirements and boosts overall performance.

Extensive real-estate projects have been undertaken with more on the way in order to support new co-working initiatives.

Adapting RTE’s industrial assets

By inventing the key principles behind the operation and development of tomorrow’s power system after having transformed our industrial assets and by implementing a rationalised asset-management system.

RTE’s future performance will depend on its preparedness for the operation of tomorrow’s system, as well as on the coordinated planning of electrical and digital infrastructure development. Technological developments will help RTE to transform the power system with a constant focus on rationalisation and performance: management of the power system, development and management of our assets, IT systems and telecom systems.

Transforming our industrial assets

By 2025, RTE will have built a suite of H24 rooms, designed to continuously monitor the entire electrical and digital network. Three specialised structures including “control towers” – distributed among nine rooms in France – will be used in order to anticipate and establish mitigating measures, to deal with unforeseen incidents and faults, and to learn the lessons required to support our customers and the company’s performance.

Rationalising asset management

Asset-management strategy is changing. It is seizing the opportunities being offered by new digital technologies, combined with new simulation and risk-assessment skills, in order to rationalise future expenditure. The challenge is now to establish and implement a new approach to managing our assets’ lifecycle (connections, HV substations, automation and control, telecom systems, IT infrastructure and related software) across all of the company’s business units (engineering, maintenance, operations, IT & telecoms, financial control, technical support, etc.).

Helping our employees to play an active role in the Impulsion & Vision project

By developing innovative HR tools and by fostering a new leadership culture for the benefit of each individual and the workforce as a whole.
The company’s Impulsion & Vision project will only succeed with the support of the workforce. That is why RTE’s HR department will be helping each and every employee to play an active role in Impulsion & Vision 2025.

Supporting each individual and the workforce as a whole

In order for employees to play an instrumental role in the project’s successful completion, the HR department will provide the workforce with individual and collective support, thereby ensuring that new skills acquired through the corporate project and the new industrial model provide an opportunity for offering them new career-development prospects.

Developing innovative HR tools

Concrete example: as of 2020, the HR department will be instituting an “employee passport”, the purpose of which is to give each employee greater clarity regarding their career-development prospects within the company.

The employee passport will identify matches between opportunities being offered by the company and all of the employee’s skills, regardless of whether these were acquired at RTE or elsewhere. This document is intended to become an essential tool for the employee’s career development. It is currently being piloted with all employees in the Nord region.

Fostering a new leadership culture

In order to bring about this change, leaders will also require support. They will receive change-management training. The company has already initiated a programme on leadership fundamentals, the intention being for all leaders to internalise these fundamentals in optimal conditions. This type of coaching will be stepped up and adjusted to fit with the principles that will be adopted as part of the leadership culture transformation.