(Adds E.ON UK CEO quotes, detail.)
By Selina Williams
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- The U.K. government needs to step up its support of nuclear power and draw up a clear energy policy before companies can commit billions of dollars of investment in new nuclear plants, senior industry executives said Wednesday.
Support could come through a mechanism guaranteeing a long-term carbon price and other measures to ensure a "level playing field" with renewable energy and carbon capture and storage, both of which are subsidized in the U.K., the head of the U.K. unit of Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR) said.
The U.K. government is pushing for the construction of a new fleet of nuclear power stations to replace aging reactors, most of which are due to close over the next decade, and to meet its climate change obligations.
"We need a robust business case before we can make a final investment decision and that will have to include answers to whether the carbon price will deliver the right signal," EDF Energy CEO Vincent de Rivaz told a nuclear industry conference.
De Rivaz declined to explain what he meant by a level playing field, but said the carbon price could be a tool toward achieving that.
Earlier this year, prices for carbon dioxide traded under the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme plunged around 75% from a peak last summer. At the time, some investors called for a floor under the carbon price to ensure that investment in low-carbon energy would go ahead.
The U.K. government recently announced additional support for CCS and offshore wind power to rejuvenate stalled projects. The U.K. is counting on offshore wind to meet binding European Union climate change targets to source 20% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 and cut greenhouse gas emissions by the same amount.
But E.ON U.K. CEO Paul Golby said the government's piecemeal support of different sectors of electricity generation wasn't helping the sector, especially in an environment where the carbon price wasn't a sufficient incentive.
"There remains a void at the heart of U.K. energy policy," Golby said, calling for a roadmap of how the U.K. will reach its 2050 commitment of an 80% cut in emissions, that would include a vision of the country's future energy mix and the mechanisms needed to get there.
However, he said it would be premature to talk about a floor for carbon prices or subsidies for nuclear until after the Copenhagen talks.
Both Golby and de Rivaz said the U.K. government also needed to ensure that planning reform progresses without delays as the schedule is already tight.
De Rivaz said EDF will begin the procurement process this year for its new nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point and Sizewell. EDF is still on track for the first reactor to come online by the end of 2017, he added.
E.ON, in partnership with German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE), has enough U.K. land from its recent purchase at auction to meet its target of six gigawatts of new nuclear by 2025, Golby said.
-By Selina Williams, Dow Jones Newswires +44 207 842 9262; selina.williams@dowjones.com
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Publié le 10 Juin 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones