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Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this:

From the Guardian today:

Britain’s first new nuclear plant in a generation at the Hinkley Point C site will face further delay, at a cost of €2.5bn to the French utility company EDF.

EDF said the first reactor at the site in Somerset will begin operations in 2030, a year later than planned – almost 13 years after construction work began – after a series of delays to the project.

The latest delay will wipe almost £3bn from the French state-owned developer’s accounts and take the total cost of building the nuclear plant to £35bn, or almost double the estimate of £18bn when it was given the green light in 2016. However, the final cost will be far higher once inflation is taken into account as EDF gives its cost estimates in 2015 prices.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/20/hinkley-point-c-delayed-to-2030-as-costs-climb-to-35bn

2015 prices? So, that £35bn is already £49bn and by 2030, £60bn compared to initial estimate of £18bn, more than three times!

So, Grok AI – In the light of Hinkley Point C nuclear plant delayed to 2030 as costs climb to £35bn – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/20/hinkley-point-c-delayed-to-2030-as-costs-climb-to-35bn – how will unit costs compare with wind onshore and offshore?

In summary, both onshore and offshore wind have significantly lower unit costs than Hinkley Point C, with onshore wind being the cheapest at roughly one-third to one-half the LCOE of the nuclear project. The delays and cost climbs at Hinkley exacerbate this gap, as wind projects can be deployed faster and at scale to meet near-term decarbonization goals. These LCOE figures exclude wider system costs like grid balancing or backups for intermittency (relevant for wind), but even accounting for that, recent analyses show renewables remain more cost-effective than new nuclear under current UK conditions. For context, all are below the £147/MWh LCOE for new gas-fired power (at 30% load factor), underscoring the shift toward low-carbon sources.

Sources:

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-auction-delivers-unprecedented-clean-homegrown-power
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/record-breaking-auction-for-offshore-wind-secured-to-take-back-control-of-britains-energy
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_Point_C_nuclear_power_station
4. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/28/uk-energy-bill-payers-edf-hinkley-point-c-sizewell-c

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:

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Click on the above.

Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04  Account - 12266421 Name - JOHN ROBERTSON