By Nina Chestney
LONDON (Reuters) – EDF Energy, part of France’s EDF, said on Thursday it will extend the lifetimes of its Hartlepool and Heysham 1 nuclear plants in Britain by two years to March 2026.
They had been slated for closure in 2024 but EDF said last year it would review whether there was a case to keep them open beyond that.
EDF Energy, which operates all of Britain’s eight nuclear power plants providing around 13% of the country’s electricity, said it would invest 1 billion pounds ($1.2 billion) over 2023-25 to help the UK plants maintain output.
All but one of Britain’s nuclear plants are scheduled to close by 2030 and EDF’s Hinkley Point C, the first new plant in more than 20 years is not expected to come online until 2027.
“Supplying zero-carbon and affordable electricity, whatever the weather, has never been more important than right now,” said Matt Sykes, managing director of EDF’s generation business.
“Our ongoing investment and careful stewardship of the UK nuclear fleet since 2009 has allowed us to make today’s decision and helps support the UK’s energy security at this challenging time,” he added.
Britain has been exposed, along with the rest of Europe, to high gas and power prices over the past year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Britain is also seeking to ramp up low-carbon nuclear power generation to help shore up its electricity supplies, while also meeting a climate target of net zero emissions by 2050, and has a goal of meeting around 25% of electricity demand with nuclear power by the same date.
($1 = 0.8393 pounds)
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
