Britain has already offered EDF a guaranteed price for electricity from Hinkley C for 35 years at nearly three times the current market rate and promised a 2 billion pound loan, which was given the green light by the European Commission.
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Hinkley would be the first nuclear power plant to be built in Britain in two decades.
Government sources have repeatedly signalled they regard Hinkley Point and plans for additional reactors during the second half of the 2020 as crucial to the UK’s efforts to meet medium term carbon targets, arguing the EDF project alone will provide seven per cent of the UK’s power, offering low carbon baseload energy that can replace ageing nuclear plants and coal power plants.
EDF won the contract to build Hinkley Point, but has delayed giving the final go-ahead for months.
Meanwhile, in a letter to The Guardian newspaper, Rudd said, “The government’s job is to ensure our families and businesses have energy supplies they can rely on”.
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace claimed the delay could be “a sign that the entire project is coming to a grinding halt”, adding that the United Kingdom should back renewable energy “as a more reliable alternative” to nuclear power.
“The reason we are backing the construction of Hinkley Point C is that new nuclear is the only proven low-carbon technology that can provide continuous power, irrespective of whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining”.
The legal opinion, by Jon Turner QC, Ben Rayment and Julian Gregory, competition and EU law barristers from Monckton Chambers, said the French government’s reported refinancing plans for EDF are likely to be illegal under EU law unless they are approved by the European Commission.
The country’s economy minister, Emmanuel Macron, has talked about taking future dividends in shares rather than cash and a range of other options to lessen the financial burden on EDF.
“We now have a political battle where the stakes for both the United Kingdom and France are just too high to admit failure”.
Ecotricity says State aid for Hinkley would be harmful to EDF’s competitors.
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Amber Rudd has admitted delays or cancellation to the controversial Hinkley Point nuclear project could push up energy costs for billpayers and leave the UK’s decarbonisation targets “at risk”.
