Ministers invest £100m in EDF’s £20bn Sizewell C nuclear power station
Ministers have thrown further support behind EDF Energy’s £20bn Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk with a £100m investment to help develop the project while the company courts private investors.
The government’s cash injection is designed to “maximise investor confidence” in the project while French state-owned EDF works towards setting out a funding plan which satisfies investors and UK ministers.
In return the government will have rights to an equity stake in the development company behind the project and over the land on which EDF plans to build it. If EDF is able to secure enough investor backing to make a final investment decision on Sizewell it would reimburse the government with a stake in the project or in cash.
The UK government reignited talks with EDF over the nuclear project in late 2020, focusing on whether the company could prove it had learned lessons from its Hinkley Point nuclear project in Somerset, and that a successor plant would offer the public value for money.
EDF has since embarked on a hunt for investors to help to drive down the cost for bill-payers. It is understood that EDF and the UK government also hope to secure enough new investment to replace Chinese state-controlled CGN, which has a 20% stake in the critical national infrastructure project.
Sizewell, which is still going through planning and development, would power 6 million homes, but has been plagued by opposition from local campaigners, fears over its price tag and China’s involvement.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business and energy secretary, said the government’s funding would add support to the development of Sizewell C “during this important phase of negotiations as we seek to maximise investor confidence in this nationally
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