UK prime minister Boris Johnson said today that he is confident that French state-owned utility EdF's planned 3.2GW Sizewell C nuclear project will go ahead, and promised £700mn ($810mn) in government funding.
"In the course of the next few weeks I am absolutely confident that it will get over the line," Johnson said. EdF received planning consent for the project in July, and has said it expected to make a final investment decision in 2023.
Johnson, in what was likely to be his final speech as prime minister, bemoaned a lack of progress made on UK nuclear energy, blaming "the short-termism of successive British governments." The 3.2GW Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, being built in southwest England by EdF, will at start up be the first new nuclear project in the country since Sizewell B in 1995.
Hinkley Point C was approved by the ruling Conservative party in 2016, but it and the proposed Sizewell C have been subject to lengthy delays, and plans for three other plants were scrapped by developers in 2019.
The UK's latest energy security strategy focused heavily on nuclear and offshore wind to boost self-sufficiency.
Johnson emphasised government support for consumers with high energy bills and suggested there would be further direct financial support.
"[O]f course there will be more cash to come whoever takes over from me in the months ahead, substantial sums, that's absolutely clear," he said. His replacement as prime minister will be announced on 5 September. Foreign secretary Liz Truss, who is ahead in the running for the job, signalled a slight change in tack at the final leadership hustings on 31 August.
"[W]e need to give people immediate help on their fuel bills," Truss said. She reiterated her approach to cut taxes and place a temporary moratorium on the green energy levy, as well as "dealing with [energy] supply," by maximising North Sea oil and gas production and looking at hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the UK. She said her finance minister "would address the issue of household support."
Truss ruled out energy rationing and another windfall tax under her premiership. Her challenger, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, said he would not rule out rationing, and said optimising energy usage would be sensible.
UK energy supplier Ovo today became the latest utility to lay out plans to help consumers facing fast-rising bills, asking the government to bring forward payment of the energy rebate and to set up a fuel poverty task force. British Gas has set up a support fund and Scottish Power has called for a UK government-underwritten deficit fund.
