Government’s deal with EDF, Centrica and other backers marks end of 15-year journey to win funding for project
The UK has agreed a deal worth more than £38bn with private investors to back the Sizewell C nuclear power station project – a major step forward in the delivery of what the government called a new “golden age” of nuclear.
The government will retain a majority stake of 44.9% in the project to build two France-suppled EPR plants at the site in Suffolk, southeast England. The remainder will be divided between investors including Canada-based global investment group La Caisse (20%), Centrica, the owner of power company British Gas (15%) and France’s EDF (12.5%).
The National Wealth Fund – the government’s principal investor and policy bank – is making its first investment in nuclear energy. It will provide the majority of the project’s debt finance, working alongside Bpifrance Assurance Export, to help support the building of the power plant.
Sizewell C, in Suffolk, southeast England, will cost £38bn (€43bn, $51bn), almost double from when the project was first proposed.
The government said the deal ends “an era of dithering and delay” to give Sizewell C the go-ahead, that will help secure Britain’s home-grown nuclear supply far beyond 2030.
It said the station – whose EPR units will each have a net capacity of 1,630-MW – will deliver clean power for the equivalent of six million homes and support 10,000 jobs at peak construction.
Sizewell C is considered the successor project to the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset, southwest England, where costs for two EPRs have climbed from an estimated £18bn in 2017 to about £46bn with an expected startup date in the early 2030s.
The investment deal builds on lessons learnt from the construction of Hinkley Point C to provide a funding model that spreads the around £38bn cost of constructing Sizewell C between consumers, taxpayers and private investors.
“This represents a saving of around 20% compared with Hinkley Point C and demonstrates the value of building a virtual replica project,” the government said.
“For the first time, the British people will be co-owners of a nuclear power plant alongside experienced private sector partners – with consumers to benefit from the government’s investment.”
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, said the multibillion-pound investment was “a powerful endorsement of the UK as the best place to do business and as a global hub for nuclear energy”.
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the London-based Nuclear Industry Association, said: “Sizewell C will be the greatest and greenest single project in the UK’s history, driving investment into our industrial heartlands and providing energy security for the rest of this century.
“This is money well spent creating thousands upon thousands of good jobs for communities that need them most, cutting gas imports, and providing a more competitive foundation for our economy.”
Greatrex said the project crucially marks the first time the UK has approved a true replica nuclear power station. “That is the best way to build faster and cheaper, and we must apply those lessons to a full programme,” he said.
Background: Agreement Marks End Of 15-Year Journey
The final agreement marks the end of a 15-year journey to secure investment for the nuclear plant since Sizewell C was first earmarked for new nuclear development in 2009.
Despite the UK’s strong nuclear legacy, including operating the world’s first commercial nuclear power station in the 1950s, no new nuclear plant has started up in the UK since 1995, with all of the existing fleet of nine units, except Sizewell B, likely to be phased out by the early 2030s.
Sizewell C was one of eight sites identified in 2009 by then-energy Secretary Ed Miliband as a potential site for new nuclear. However, the project was not fully funded in the 14 years that followed under subsequent governments.
The government said its nuclear programme is now the most ambitious for a generation. Once small modular reactors (SMRs) and Sizewell C come online in the 2030s, combined with Hinkley Point C, this will deliver more new nuclear to the grid than over the previous half century combined.
Recently, the government also set out next steps for SMRs in the UK and last month selected Rolls-Royce SMR as the preferred bidder to build first reactors of this kind in the country.
Following this, prime minister Keir Starmer signed an agreement with Czech prime minister Petr Fiala last week that will see the two countries work more closely on SMRs.
