Hinkley Point C will not now be ready by 2023

The project to build the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power station have been delayed once again, with developer EDF saying that the station will not now be generating power for the grid by 2023, a date set by EDF in 2013 in the expectation of a final investment decision being taken last year.

That investment decision has still to be taken, although there is a suggestion that it may be made later this month (October) while a Chinese government delegation is in the country – Chinese investors are likely to take a major stake in the project.

Plans for Hinkley Point C go back to 2006, when a government energy review gave a formal go ahead to a new generation of nuclear plants. EDF announced in 2007 its intention to have a new plant built in time for Christmas 2017. In 2008, EDF acquired British Energy, the owner of the existing nuclear fleet, and revealed plans to build four new reactors in the UK, including on at Hinkley point in Somerset.

In 2010 the government named Hinkley Point as one of eight potential sites for new reactors and, 2011 EDF submitted a planning application, with a target date of the end of 2012 for a final investment decision. In 2013, the government announced a guaranteed price for power for Hinkley Point C of £92.50/MWh – twice the current market price of electricity – to be funded through levies on consumer electricity bills. Last year the European Commission gave state aid approval for the project.

Yet, and despite some preparatory groundwork being carried out at the site, construction is still to begin. EDF has found amassing the necessary investment and finalising agreements with the government more challenging than expected.

The Hinkley project may be too big for the modern electricity system, according to the Head of the Global Energy Research Network at Warwick Business School, Professor David Elmes, who said: ‘The UK has a history of meeting its energy needs through big projects giving more energy supply – big power stations, large offshore oil and gas developments in the North Sea and more recently the emphasis on the nuclear rebuild programme and large renewable projects such as offshore wind. There is certainly a need for some of these large, supply-focused projects, but the idea that large projects must be cheaper for the energy they produce is more debateable when you look at examples such as new nuclear.’ 

Elmes concludes that: ‘New studies by the OECD’s International Energy Agency take a detailed look at how the escalating costs of new nuclear in Europe make it an expensive choice, reflected in the high guaranteed price already offered to Hinckley Point C by the UK government... But we also need to consider the increasing opportunities for the more efficient use of energy, and look at more distributed solutions for the supply and use of energy, which show a better track record of reducing their costs as their they grow their share in our energy mix.’