UK Greenlights £18Bn Nuclear Power Project; Offshore Wind Referred as Better Option

The UK government today gave the green light for the construction of Hinkley Point C, an GBP 18 billion nuclear power plant developed by EDF, which will take 10 years to be built and will have a lifespan of 35 years.

“The Contract for Difference would provide a set price of £92.50 per megawatt hour of electricity provided by Hinkley Point C for 35 years once it begins generating. The difference between the strike price and the wholesale price is paid for through consumer bills, in the same way as other clean technologies such as offshore wind,” the government said in a press release issued today.

Following today’s approval of the nuclear power project and recent reports comparing viability of nuclear and offshore wind projects, Offshore WIND asked BVG Associates, a UK-based consultancy with expertise in offshore renewable energy, to comment on the matter.

Bruce Valpy, BVG Associates’ Managing Director, said: “As time has gone on, then the cost of energy from nuclear new build has started to look relatively high, especially when looking over much longer subsidy periods compared to offshore wind.

“It is interesting to note that government’s estimates of cost of energy from nuclear new build in 2025 has consistently risen over the last few years, while its estimates for offshore wind for the same point in the future have consistently fallen. Indeed, new build offshore wind is already achieving an LCOE of well under £95 and wind LCOE  will continue to drop with further developments in scale, technology, installation and operation.

“Obviously, nuclear output doesn’t depend on the weather, but the electricity system still needs to have the flexibility to cope with ‘instant’ loss of nuclear output in the event of a plant fault.

“We recognise that UK has a real need for a mix of new, low carbon  generating capacity. We are not yet convinced, however, that new large-scale nuclear build, with its long-term societal risks and costs, justifies being a big part of that future mix.” 

The UK leads the offshore wind market with 1,454 grid-connected wind turbines (45%), and is followed by Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Ireland, according to statistics published by EWEA (now WindEurope). When it comes to offshore wind turbines that went online in 2015, the country came in second, after Germany.

After the government had decided to re-examine the nuclear power project, offshore wind emerged as a potentially better solution for the country than nuclear power, with the Head of Offshore Wind at the Crown Estate, Huub den Rooijen saying last month: “We have an inexhaustible supply of reliable and clean power right on our doorstep, and competitively priced offshore wind now offers a mature part of the solution for the UK’s energy mix.” 

Also, a report recently issued by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) says that, while Hinkley Point C could form part of the UK’s future energy mix, the project is not essential. Replacing all electricity generated by the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power station with power generated by as few as four additional offshore wind farms would cut the average UK household bill by GBP 10-20 per year, the report states.

The UK government’s decision to look into the nuclear power project once again came after the board of EDF approved Hinkley Point C, which will be built together with China General Nuclear (CGN), and was ready to enter into an agreement with the government.

The go-ahead given today involves a revised agreement with EDF and an imposition of a new legal framework for future foreign investment in Britain’s critical infrastructure, which will include nuclear energy and apply after Hinkley.