Power Generation

A consortium comprising Iberdrola, GdF Suez and Scottish and Southern Energy have bought a site north of Sellafield in Cumbria from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) for £70 million.

The 190 hectare site lies adjacent to an existing nuclear power station, but will require significant upgrades to the grid connection to accommodate a new facility. The Cumbrian location is also far from large urban areas and other large electricity users.

However, the three partners intend to put together plans for a nuclear power station on the site with a capacity of up to 3.6 GW, sufficient to power 3.5 million homes.

If the proposals get planning permission, the consortium says it would begin construction on the site in 2015.

“We believe that some participation in new nuclear power stations makes sense and complements our core investment in renewable energy,” says Alistair Phillips-Davies of Scottish and Southern Energy.

The consortium’s plans face stiff competition from RWE npower and E.ON, who joined forces earlier this year to buy two sites at Wylfa in Wales and Olbury in Gloucestershire.

EDF Energy is also in the running, having bought British Energy last year, which owns the country’s main nuclear facilities, and a site at Bradwell in Essex. Earlier this year, Centrica took a 20% stake in the EDF nuclear venture.

For further information:
www.nda.gov.uk/
www.iberdrola.es/
www.gdfsuez.com/
www.scottish-southern.co.uk/
www.rwe.com/
www.eon-uk.com/
www.edfenergy.com/
www.centrica.co.uk/index.asp

Related stories:
Centrica joins UK nuclear arena (13-May)
E.ON, RWE and EDF win £400 million UK nuclear site auction (30-Apr)
E.ON and RWE join forces on UK nuclear power stations (15-Jan)
EDF takeover of British Energy goes ahead (7-Jan)