“We have made a decision to proceed with the first new nuclear power station for a generation”, he said.
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For Hinkley Point C, which will be partly owned by China (it’s paying £6 billion of the proposed £18 billion construction cost), the United Kingdom government is preventing EDF from selling its controlling stake without “prior notification and agreement of ministers”.
The project will now go ahead under the condition that EDF will be banned from selling its controlling stake in the project prior to completion of construction without United Kingdom government approval.
The British government has announced that Hinkley nuclear power station deal will go ahead after months of doubt, but that there will be new conditions.
The board of French state-owned power company EDF had already approved its participation in the project in southwest England in July when May’s government said it wanted to review it.
Critics of the deal have warned of escalating costs and the implications of nuclear power plants being built in the United Kingdom by foreign governments. Électricité de France (EDF), a French state-owned firm, is building the plant and the Chinese are investing £6 billion ($7.9 billion) in it, about one-third of its projected cost.
French and Chinese investors in the UK’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power project welcomed government approval for the 3.2 GW project Thursday, confirming construction can now proceed.
China’s CGN welcomed the Hinkley decision and said it was now “able to move forward and deliver” nuclear capacity at two more planned United Kingdom reactors, one of which is expected to be Chinese-designed, as well as financed.
Industry groups have welcomed the go-ahead for Hinkley Point, saying thousands of new jobs will now be created, giving a huge boost to the nuclear sector.
Under the deal, China would have the chance to build a nuclear reactor in Essex, southern England.
“Britain needs to upgrade its supplies of energy and we have always been clear that nuclear is an important part of ensuring our future low-carbon energy security”. “Our analysis shows that for almost every renewable technology the equivalent amount of capacity could be procured at much lower cost using renewables”.
EDF had to take a 66.5 percent share in the project when it was unable to find other partners to join it and China’s CGN in the financing. EDF said it had agreed with the government to retain control of the project.
“It is excellent news that that the uncertainty caused by Theresa May’s decision to put Hinkley Point “on hold” has now been dispelled and that the Government recognises the role of nuclear in a mixed energy economy”.
EDF and CGN are to receive a fixed price of electricity of £92.50 per megawatt hour, rising with inflation, for 35 years.
Crucially, the go-ahead is also a vote of confidence for the third-generation EPR reactors developed by EDF that will be used at Hinkley Point.
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To shore up its balance sheet, EDF plans to sell 4 billion euros of new shares by early next year and 10 billion euros of assets by 2020.
