The Court of Justice of the European Union has confirmed the European Commission's decision to approve the British government aid for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power project in Somerset (United Kingdom), after Austria sought to annul that decision.
The Hinkley Point C project is developed by EDF, CGNPC and CNNC and will consist of two 1,630 MW Areva EPR reactors (namely Hinkley Point C-1 and Hinkley Point C-2). Since July 2017, the risk of a deferral in the delivery (COD) of the project is estimated at 15 months for Unit 1 (commissioning in 2027 instead of late 2025) and 9 months for Unit 2 (commissioning in 2027). In September 2019, EDF announced that the project will require an additional investment of £1.9bn (€2.1bn) to £2.9bn (€3.1bn) for completion, due to challenging ground conditions making earthworks more expensive than anticipated, revised action plan targets and extra costs to implement the completed functional design. The new cost of the power plant will now range from £21.5bn (€23.3bn) and £22.5bn (€24.4bn).