A new high-power front-end has been developed and installed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The new design consists of the replacement of the X-ray absorber and the filtering system. An upstream pre-slit and a compact high-heat-load absorber have replaced the X-ray absorber. A chemical-vapour-deposition diamond window has replaced the beryllium window and graphite filters usually employed. Commissioning has been successfully performed on the ID23 test front-end equipped with three U34 undulators producing synchrotron radiation with a total power of 11 kW and a peak power density of 1200 W mm(-2) at normal incidence.