Sizewell C, Hinkley Point C and Drax are all in the news right now, but for different reasons.
The UK power generation sector is going through a period of upheaval. Three UK power stations – Sizewell C, Hinkley Point C and Drax – illustrate the ups and downs that come with delivering energy to the nation right now. In this article, we’ll pay a visit to all three and explain the challenges they’re facing and how they’ll overcome them. Let’s get started.
Sizewell C
The UK government recently increased its investment in EDF’s Sizewell C nuclear project by £1.3 billion, taking its total investment to around £2.5 billion to date. The latest injection of government cash aims to consolidate its position as the majority shareholder in Sizewell C, so it can more efficiently go ahead with external works like improvements to local roads and railway lines. The new Suffolk power station has been slated to come online between 2033 and 2036.
The government considers Sizewell C to be a massively significant project for the nation’s nuclear pipeline, and that its investment signifies confidence in the undertaking. It has been investing in the project since November 2022 and slowly ramping up its share. The first investment was £679 million to buy out EDF’s Chinese Partner CGN and get the project’s first steps over the line. It can now begin construction, despite concerns over environmental and water safety.
While Sizewell C now has the go-ahead, local groups against the project do not plan to give up their fight. They plan to take a legal challenge to the Supreme Court, citing environmental and cost transparency concerns.
Hinkley Point C
Next, we go to Somerset and Hinkley Point C, another EDF nuclear power station currently under construction. It’s a story we often see with large-scale construction projects in the UK – long delays, spiralling costs and enormous challenges.
The projected price for Hinkley Point C has risen to £35 billion, while it’s not predicted to come online until 2031. The original estimates were £18 billion and 2025. While the construction project is past the halfway point, there are still challenges ahead that will cause delays, including adapting the design to satisfy British regulations. EDF said they needed to change more than 7,000 points on the specification, which added 35% more steel and 25% more concrete.
Hinkley Point C is the first new nuclear power in many years. Training people, finding suitable suppliers and complying with British regulations has taken a lot of time and effort. However, EDF believes that once they’ve completed it for the first time, it may be easier to replicate in the future.
Drax
Experts predict that if the nuclear projects are delayed for as long as expected, we’ll need to rely on existing power stations for longer than initially intended. Drax, a biomass power generator in North Yorkshire, is one of those stations. For Drax, when one door closes, another one opens. It was due to become unsupported in 2027, but that is looking unlikely now.
In fact, Drax is upgrading, with two new carbon capture and storage units due to be installed soon. The National Audit Office is concerned that biomass stations like Drax may not be meeting sustainability standards, but without new nuclear power stations to replace them, we will have to carry on using them for the foreseeable future.
Looking forward
These three stories show how hard it is to run an energy supply in the UK, with volatile energy markets, specific regulations, legal challenges and more, all throwing up obstacles that must be navigated around.
What the nation needs is more joined-up thinking to guarantee energy resilience, rather than the more ad hoc approach currently in operation. We hope to see this soon, as UK energy consumers have suffered for long enough.