EDF has to dig deeper for Hinkley Point nuclear power plant – EDF shares rise

The total costs should reach 25 to 26 billion British pounds (29.5 to 30.7 billion euros), the company announced on Thursday evening in Paris. At the beginning of last year, EDF estimated the costs at £22-23 billion. When it was approved in 2016, only 18 billion was mentioned.

The electricity production of the first block is now scheduled to start in June 2027, a year later than previously thought. EDF warned of a possible further delay of 15 months for the two blocks. The schedule also depends on there being no new wave of the pandemic and no additional burdens from the war in Ukraine. The project has continued without interruption since the beginning of the corona pandemic. However, material, personnel and supply chains are limited and efficiency is limited. The required quantities of material and technology as well as their costs have also increased.

EDF is also struggling with problems in its home country of France. The group had to take 12 of its 56 nuclear power plants off the grid due to possible corrosion damage, as it also announced on Thursday. For this reason, the management revised the expectations for electricity production and the expected result for the current year downwards. Problems with nuclear power generation catch France at a bad time. Because of the war in the Ukraine, a lower availability of natural gas is calculated.

At EURONEXT in Paris, the EDF share temporarily gained 2.29 percent to EUR 8.486.

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PARIS (dpa-AFX)

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