Will EDF Energy Build First New Nuclear Power Plant?
EDF Energy could build the UK’s first new nuclear power station after the company submitted an application to build a £10bn plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset.
The French energy giant, EDF Energy has submitted an application to the Infrastructure Planning Commission to build a new nuclear power plant in Somerset but the company won’t decide on the huge investment until the planning enquiry has been completed.
The planning enquiry won’t be completed until the end of next year and therefore won’t make a final decision on whether or not to invest in a new nuclear power plant in the UK until then. The company is also waiting for the nuclear technology to receive safety clearance before making a decision on whether or not to invest.
The government wants companies to invest in new nuclear plants to ensure the lights don’t go out when old fossil fuel powered plants close down in a few years and old nuclear power stations are decommissioned. As North Sea oil and gas runs out many believe that nuclear power will have to fill the energy gap. Thousands of wind turbines are set to be constructed over the next decade but it’s argued we will still need nuclear power as another form of energy generation.
Wholesale gas prices have been blamed for the increase in both domestic and business electricity prices over recent months. Being less reliant on imported energy could help to reduce gas and electricity prices or at least protect consumers from the volatility of the energy markets.
While EDF Energy waits to decide whether or not to invest in the UK, an American based company, Acorn Energy has been given the go-ahead to build a 1,500 MW gas fired power plant on the former site of the Thorpe Marsh coal fired power station in Doncaster. Also in Yorkshire, Scottish & Southern Energy has been given permission to build a 108 MW Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant at Ferrybridge. The plant will be fuelled by biomass, fuels made from waste and waste wood.