The French government and EDF have put on a united front to convince doubters they can agree on new financing that will pave the way to a final investment decision being taken on Hinkley Point nuclear power station project, reports The Guardian.
France’s economy minister, Emmanuel Macron, said money would be made available to help the largely state-owned company with its plans to build the first new reactors in the UK for 20 years.
During a visit to EDF’s Civaux plant in midwest France with the company’s chief executive, Jean-Bernard Lévy, he said: “If you believe in nuclear, you cannot say that you will not participate in the biggest nuclear project in the world. Not doing Hinkley Point would be a mistake.”
The minister’s public support for EDF came as the French CGT union repeated its calls for him to shelve the £18bn Somerset scheme, which it fears will lead to more job losses in France.
“It will jeopardise the company. We are not saying don’t do it but it must be delayed. Its too premature,” a spokesman for the union, Sébastien Menesplier, told Reuters as CGT members jeered Macron at Civaux.
The union, which has seats on the EDF board, has said for some time that the energy group cannot afford to proceed with the plants in Britain until EDF finances are strengthened.
The CGT’s hand has been bolstered by the resignation last week of EDF’s finance director, Thomas Piquemal, who had also put similar arguments to Lévy.
So far Macron and the French government have been supportive of EDF’s Hinkley plans. They see the project as an important opportunity to market the country’s new European pressurised reactor (EPR) design and support local engineering jobs.
But in a letter to staff last week, Lévy said Hinkley would not proceed unless the French government found ways to alleviate the strain on EDF’s balance sheet caused by plunging power prices and a raft of other issues.
There has been speculation that the government, which owns 85% of EDF, might take more annual dividends through shares rather than cash from the energy group.
There have also been reports that state-owned bank Caisse des Dépôts might be asked to take a minority stake in Hinkley. The project is meant to be financed two-thirds by EDF and one-third by Chinese partners.
The scheme is ultimately to be funded by British energy consumers under a controversial and generous subsidy arrangement agreed with the Treasury. Many in the City have said the scheme does not make financial sense for Britain – or for EDF. One analyst last week called the plan “insane”.
Hinkley will rise to the top of the British political agenda next week with confirmation that Vincent De Rivaz, boss of EDF’s UK arm, will be forced to answer critics of the nuclear project at a parliamentary committee meeting.
The energy and climate change committee has called EDF, and other energy companies planning to build reactors in the UK, to give evidence on the future of the nuclear industry on Wednesday.