The government has announced the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk will cost around £38 billion, with it being the biggest equity shareholder in the project.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband has signed off on the final investment decision for the development, with the UK government investing a 44.9 per cent stake.
New Sizewell C investors include La Caisse with 20 per cent, Centrica with 15 per cent, and Amber Infrastructure with an initial 7.6 per cent.
It comes alongside French energy giant EDF announcing earlier this month it was taking a 12.5 per cent stake – lower than its previously stated 16.2 per cent ownership.
The nuclear plant is expected to deliver clean power to the equivalent of six million homes and help save £2bn a year in electricity savings once operational.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, said the multibillion-pound investment was “a powerful endorsement of the UK as the best place to do business and as a global hub for nuclear energy”.
“Delivering next generation, publicly owned clean power is vital to our energy security and growth, which is why we backed Sizewell C. This investment will create thousands of good quality jobs and boost the local economy as we deliver on our plan for change,” she said.
She later said that the Sizewell C announcement would reduce the UK’s reliance on “foreign dictators” for energy.
“This is something that politicians have spoken about for years and today we are actually delivering,” she told reporters.
“This is a public-private consortium. We as a Government are putting in money but that means that government – taxpayers – will get a return on that investment.
The government’s statement said the deal ended an “era of dithering and delay” to give Sizewell C the go-ahead, which will support 10,000 jobs once operational.
Mr Miliband said: “It is time to do big things and build big projects in this country again- and today we announce an investment that will provide clean, homegrown power to millions of homes for generations to come.
“This government is making the investment needed to deliver a new golden age of nuclear, so we can end delays and free us from the ravages of the global fossil fuel markets to bring bills down for good.”
Chris O’Shea, Centrica’s chief executive, said Sizewell C was a “compelling investment for our shareholders and the country as a whole”.
“This isn’t just an investment in a new power station – it’s an investment in Britain’s energy independence, our net zero journey, and thousands of high-quality jobs across the country,” he added.
However, the decision has infuriated a former Labour donor who Sir Keir Starmer is understood to be trying to woo back.
Green industrialist Dale Vince has hit out at the cost of Sizewell C just when he was, according to sources, due to visit the prime minister at his country residence Chequers with Labour looking for funding.
Slamming the cost of Sizewell C, an angry Mr Vince said: “There’s no money for child poverty in Britain but there’s tens of billions for a power station that won’t make any power for at least ten years. And when it does it will be the most expensive power Britain has ever known. Just how expensive we don’t yet know.
“It’s time the government got honest with us on this, just months ago they scoffed at the suggestion of a £40 billion price tag (5 years ago it was £20 billion), today they say it’s £38 billion, but that’s in 2024 money, it won’t be built for another ten years at least – £50 billion is a realistic estimate.”
Critics have noted that at best Sizewell will give the UK 7 per cent of the electricity it needs with claims that if the same money was spent on wind power it could generate up to 50 per cent of the electricity needed.
