Ilkely’s NG Bailey receives blow as £460m Hinkley power station project delayed
Only one month after Ilkley-based NG Bailey was appointed by EDF Energy as preferred bidder for the £460m Hinkley Point C power station electrical package, the construction of Britain’s first new nuclear power plant in decades has been delayed.
The independent services and engineering company initially joined forced with Balfour Beatty to work across both proposed Hinkley Point C units to deliver the critical infrastructure that will power the station and its operations, which will create 1,000 jobs including many specialist engineers.
However, EDF has confirmed that the power plant has ran into more delays and will become operational in 2023 as originally planned.
No new timeframe has been given for the construction of the £24.5bn facility, and EDF has only just announced that a more advanced plant at Flamanville in Normandy will start generating power in 2018. This plant, which has cost €10bn (£7.3bn), was originally expected to open in 2005.
EDF’s chief executive, Jean-Bernard Lévy, said: “Even though the final investment decision [FID] has been pushed back from the initial forecasts, the construction time will stay the same, which means that the commissioning date will be updated at the point when FID is made.
“We are in final discussions with the British government and our Chinese partners. We hope to make this final investment decision as soon as possible.”
Hinkley Point C, which will be located on the North Somerset coast, will be the first nuclear power station to be built in the UK for 20 years. The two new nuclear reactors that form the proposed Hinkley Point C will provide reliable, low carbon electricity to meet 7% of UK demand.
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