[Machine Translation] Luxembourg on Thursday said it feared “unfair competition” between nuclear and renewable energies, on the occasion of the examination by European justice of the complaint lodged by Austria and the Grand Duchy against the payment of public aid for the Hinkley Point plant. “We want to avoid this nuclear renaissance because all this public money will be blocked and will not be able to go into energy efficiency and renewable,” explained to the press at the end of the hearing the Luxembourg Minister of the Environment, Carole Dieschburg. The arguments of the representatives of Austria and the European Commission on the United Kingdom aid measure at Unit C of the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant were held before the EU Court in Luxembourg on Thursday. Support for the Republic of Austria, Luxembourg intervened for ten minutes. For the Grand Duchy, the outcome of the dispute will have an influence on the direction of the EU’s energy policy. “Subsidizing could set an important precedent and give the green light to a new model of state nuclear financing in Europe,” Dieschbourg said. “For us, the important thing is to avoid a nuclear revival,” she insisted. At the heart of the dispute is the decision of the European Commission in October 2014 to validate the price support mechanism provided by London, which is deemed compatible in Brussels with EU rules. Backed by Luxembourg, Austria filed an appeal on 6 July 2015 against that decision. This mechanism, also known as the “offset gap contract”, guarantees stable revenues to the operator of the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant, in this case EDF, for a period of 35 years. In addition to the procedure initiated by Austria, Greenpeace Energy also brought an action for annulment against the same decision of the European Commission. In collaboration with Areva and the Chinese companies CGN China General Nuclear and CNNC China National Nuclear Corporation, EDF has built a new nuclear power plant with two reactors in Hinkley Point, southwest England, in March, a controversial an estimated cost of about 21 billion euros. By 2025, the plant will produce 3.300 MWh of electricity, the largest single-station power plant in the United Kingdom and 7% of total UK electricity generation.
Romandie 5th Oct 2017 read more »
Construction work at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant is continuing around the clock in a prominent example of international co-operation between Britain, France and China. More than 1,900 workers are involved in the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant building project on the Bristol Channel coastline of Somerset. The bustling site is a sign that Britain is on track to secure its future energy security, even though the French utility Electricite de France SA, or EDF, announced in July that there were risks of delays and budget overruns. China General Nuclear Power Corp, or CGN, is investing £6 billion in Hinkley, which will cost £18 billion.
Telegraph 4th Oct 2017 read more »
