| Successful auction brings major new player into new nuclear | | Print | |
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Total declared plans for new nuclear now exceed current capacity, enough to meet a quarter of UK electricity demand. The UK’s new nuclear power sector gained a serious new player today with the news that a joint venture between RWE npower and EON UK has been successful in purchasing potential sites for new nuclear power stations at Wylfa in Wales and Oldbury in South Gloucestershire. Following the auction run by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the RWE and E.ON joint venture today set out plans to develop both sites and the aim of delivering at least 6 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity in the UK, with the first station coming online at around the end of the next decade. Added to EDF Energy’s firm plans to build 6.4 gigawatts, this takes the total declared plans for the first phase of new build to 12.4 gigawatts. This would be enough to meet a quarter of UK electricity demand, and would exceed the UK’s existing nuclear fleet, all but one of which will have closed by 2023. Land at a third site, at Bradwell in Essex, was today bought by EDF Energy, next to land it acquired in January with the acquisition of British Energy. EDF Energy’s preferred new build sites are Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk. Subject to various conditions being met, including the level of progress at these two sites, EDF Energy has agreed to sell its land at Bradwell. EDF Energy is also committed to offer land at either Heysham or Dungeness to potential new build developers. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said: “The successful outcome of this site auction is yet more evidence of major energy players gearing up for investment in low carbon energy in the UK. “Alongside EDF Energy’s firm plans, the RWE and E.ON joint venture plans announced today take the total declared plans for the first phase of new build to 12.4 gigawatts, greater than our existing, but ageing, nuclear capacity. “Nuclear power is low carbon, secure, affordable and will remain an important part of the UK’s electricity mix alongside renewables and cleaner fossil fuels. “These benefits go hand in hand with substantial opportunity for British firms and skilled workers in the supply chain to capitalise on the shift to low carbon.” The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which owns the three sites next to existing and old nuclear plants, has run an online auction which closed this morning. The sale of these three sites is worth up to £387 million to the NDA which it will use to further its core mission of delivering safe, sustainable and publicly acceptable solutions to the challenge of nuclear clean-up and waste management. Potential sites for new nuclear power stations will still need to be subject to the regulatory and other consenting processes for nuclear power stations and will also need to be considered as part of the Government’s Strategic Siting Assessment, which will in turn help inform eventual planning decisions. All of the above mentioned sites have been nominated as part of this process. Comments (0)
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