Coalition policy to provide financial incentives for building new nuclear
Electricity Market Reform
Bloomberg (Updated) 17th Nov 2010
Electricite de France SA said U.K. energy policy is likely to make the company’s 20 billion pound ($32 billion) plan to build four nuclear reactors profitable enough to draw more investors to the projects. “The current market framework is not fit to deliver the investment we need,” Chris Huhne, U.K. secretary of state for energy and climate change, said today. “Left untouched, the electricity market would allow a new dash for gas, increasing our dependence on a single fuel, and exposing us to volatile prices.” Policy will have to provide the incentives to make new reactors viable, Citigroup Inc. analyst Peter Atherton said in a telephone interview. “The government would like companies to do things that are commercially and economically difficult to justify.”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-17/edf-says-u-k-nuclear-policy-will-attract-investors.html
Times 18th Nov 2010
Britains electricity market is braced for its biggest shake-up since privatisation as the Government prepares to unveil a package of measures designed to shore up 200 billion worth of investment in greener sources of energy over the next decade. Key proposals are being refined and subjected to the Cabinets scrutiny, with a final announcement expected by early December. Mr Huhne claimed yesterday that the reforms would represent a seismic shift in energy policy. Another senior Whitehall insider said that the proposals would be radical and unquestionably the biggest change since privatisation in 1990. They are expected to include a carbon floor price designed to penalise investment in fossil fuel power stations and boost the attractiveness of lowcarbon energy. This is expected to rise steeply every year to force energy companies to invest in lower-carbon sources of power, such as wind parks and nuclear reactors. One o! fficial said that the rate of increase could be as high as 5 per cent to 6 per cent a year. This will be accompanied by a mechanism aimed at reducing revenue uncertainty for low-carbon electricity generators by establishing a full system of feed-in tariffs, or an alternative incentive such as the creation of an obligation on suppliers to provide a fixed proportion of low-carbon power.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/naturalresources/article2812039.ec
FT 18th Nov 2010
Sweeping reforms to the UKs energy market will make it easier for nuclear power generators to build plants, under plans set out by the energy secretary on Wednesday. Chris Huhne promised wide-reaching reforms to energy market regulation, with a consultation to begin this year, leading to draft legislation next spring. Left untouched, the electricity market would allow a new dash for gas, increasing our dependence on a single fuel and exposing us to volatile prices, he told a climate summit hosted the CBI in London. We have a once-in-a-generation chance to rebuild our fragmented market, rebuild investor confidence and rebuild our power stations. Like privatisation, this will be a seismic shift.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4f8f87c4-f265-11df-a2f3-00144feab49a.html