Summary
A powerful european energy utility consortium has acquired the British government's Sellafield nuclear site for GBP £70 million and plans to construct up to 3.6GW of new nuclear power units for around USD $15 billion beginning 2015.
Analysis
The european energy utility GDF SUEZ (37.5), with its joint venture development partners IBERDROLA (37.5) and SCOTTISH AND SOUTHERN ENERGY (25) has entered the liberalised UK nuclear electricity generation market for the first time. The consortium has acquired the British government's Sellafield nuclear site for GBP £70 million and plans to construct up to 3.6GW of new nuclear power units for around likely USD $15 billion (€10 billion) beginning 2015. In the UK there is strong political support for new nuclear build as set out in the British government's 2008 White Paper on Nuclear Power as a major source of low-carbon generation. Britain is set to become the major european market for nuclear energy development. The White Paper forecast a need for 35GW of new generating capacity of which around 70% is expected to be nuclear powered, based on 24GW of new nuclear unit capacity reserved with Britain's National Grid. Two other european nuclear energy consortia, EDF ENERGY with CENTRICA , and RWE with E.ON , have reserved 11 GW of nuclear build with National Grid. Together with GDF SUEZ and IBERDROLA's 3.6GW, these three european-based consortia have together captured nearly one half of the total future nuclear energy market in the UK. The move reflects widening expectation of higher long-term carbon emission prices for fossil fuel generators.
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