If the UK really wants 3.2GW of ‘baseload’ power in Somerset, then the Hinkley C nuclear power station is not the only way, write Marie-Louise Heddrich, Thorsten Lenck and Carlos Perez Linkenheil. Wind power with ‘wind to gas’ plant and CCGT gas power stations could do the same – faster, cheaper, more flexibily, and at much lower technical and financial risk. electricity is generated by wind turbines. Wind power that is surplus to the HPC’s 3.2GW is used to produce ‘windgas’ by electrolysing water to produce hydrogen, and then using that to produce methane. Natural fluctuations in wind power generationare balanced by windgas (also known as power-to-gas) so that, overall, the same volume of electricity is generated as would be by HPC. In a comparison using the figures from HPC’s current subsidy programme and the present degression defined in Germany’s Renewable Energies Act (EEG), wind power and windgas facilities can replace the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant at a lower cost. If we also take into consideration that Hinkley Point C will not begin operating in 2023 but later due to delays in construction, we can assume that cost savings from using the windgas alternative will be even greater due to improved efficiency and lower costs in windgas technology, and possibly due to gas-fired power plants becoming less expensive. Operations are currently expected to begin in 2025 and not in 2017 as originally planned.
Ecologist 17th February 2016 read more »
Energy Brainpool January 2016 read more »
EDF will help to pay for the construction of the planned new £18 billion nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset by selling off part of its stake in the French power grid. The cash-strapped French energy group is in talks with the French government, its majority shareholder with an 84.5 per cent stake, about a financing plan that would be worth €10 billion a year. The cash will be used to bankroll EDF’s 66.5 per cent share of the new station at Hinkley Point, which would generate up to 7 per cent of the UK’s electricity, as well as a string of other big investments in the French nuclear, wind and solar energy sectors.
Times 24th Feb 2016 read more »
EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Levy said on Tuesday he expected the French utility would take a final investment decision on the British Hinkley Point nuclear plant “very soon,” which he added meant this year. “We are working actively today with our Chinese partners to complete the discusssion that are we are having and announce a final investment decision very soon,” he told a Brussels conference on energy.
Yahoo 23rd Feb 2016 read more »
EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Levy expects the French utility will take a final investment decision on the British Hinkley Point nuclear plant this year. “We are working actively today with our Chinese partners to complete the discussion that we are having and announce a final investment decision very soon,” he told a Brussels conference on energy on Tuesday. Asked whether “very soon” meant this year, Levy said “if in my thinking very soon did not mean this year, I would be disingenuous”.
Reuters 23rd Feb 2016 read more »
EDM 1118: That this House welcomes the view of the Financial Times that Britain is saddled with the worst of all worlds on the Hinkley Point C nuclear project; reinforces the paper’s belief that the Government has effectively written the French company, EDF, a long-dated option to sell the UK unproven technology at an extremely generous price; believes the case for halting Hinkley Point C is becoming hard to refute; is alarmed that the EDF has yet to commit itself to the project because of its massive €37 billion debt; agrees with the Financial Times that prolonged delays, multi billion pound cost overruns and technical problems at Flamanville may cause construction at Hinkley Point to be scrapped; and calls for a full debate and a reappraisal of the project.
Parliament 22nd Feb 2016 read more »
Letter John Hutton: Your editorial “Britain’s nuclear strategy exposed at Hinkley Point” (February 19) is far from the mark. It is beyond dispute that there is an urgent need for new generation capacity in the UK, with the Financial Times reporting in September last year that between 2010 and the end of March 2016, 21.4GW of dispatchable generation will have closed, with just 6GW new capacity coming online in the same timeframe. Our energy system needs new nuclear power both to replace retiring plant, but also to help manage a system with an increasing amount of intermittent renewable generation. By matching output to demand, nuclear will help ensure we have low carbon power when we need it, improving security of supply and reducing reliance on the volatility of unpredictable fossil fuel prices.
FT 23rd Feb 2016 read more »