Background

Hinkley Point C will provide reliable energy at an affordable cost, powering nearly six million homes for around 60 years and creating more than 25,000 jobs.

The project marks a significant step forward in our transition to a low-carbon energy system, and will help us meet our climate change commitments in a cost-effective way.

Bilateral negotiations with EDF on the support for Hinkley Point C began in February 2013 as part of DECC’s Final Investment Decision (FID) enabling process. The Strike Price for the Contract for Difference (CfD) and other key terms were agreed in October 2013 and these received State aid approval from the European Commission in October 2014. Following a comprehensive review of the project, and a revised agreement with EDF, the Government made a decision in September 2016 to proceed with the first new nuclear power station in a generation. The Secretary of State then directed the Low Carbon Contracts Company to offer a Contract for Difference with respect to Hinkley Point C and enter into the associated documents.

Contract for Difference

Under the umbrella of Electricity Market Reform, there has been an initiative to facilitate investment in low carbon generation in the UK, in particular by implementing Contracts for Difference (CfDs). This mechanism allows for payments to generators to provide increased certainty around revenue levels, in order to bring forward investment, while retaining the need for the generator to sell its electricity in the commercial market.

The Hinkley Point C CfD provides a Strike Price for the developer of £92.50/MWh (2012 prices), reducing to £89.50/MWh (2012 prices) if EDF take a FID on their proposed Sizewell C project, for a 35 year term from the date of commissioning. This means that for each MWh of electricity generated at Hinkley, the developer is paid the difference between the Strike Price and the market reference price (a composite of wholesale price indices) for electricity sold into the market for the duration of the contract. The generator will pay back the difference should the market reference price rise above the strike price.

Secretary of State Investor Agreement

A Secretary of State Investor Agreement (SOSIA) provides protection for the term of the CfD for investors in relation to qualifying changes in law which permanently prevent the construction or operation of the facility or a reactor or where there is a political shut down of Hinkley Point C by a UK, EU or international Competent Authority. The SOSIA also includes provision where project outperformance or equity sales that increase investors’ realised equity returns above the base case would be shared with the consumer.

Exchange of Letters

The Government will be able to prevent the sale of EDF’s controlling stake prior to the completion of construction, without the prior notification and agreement of ministers. This agreement has been confirmed in an exchange of letters between the Government and EDF.

Value for Money

The Value for Money assessment provides analysis that Hinkley Point C project provides a good deal for both customers and investors.

The Value for Money assessment supports the Secretary of State’s decision on Hinkley Point C.

The Detailed Value for Money Assessment report provides further details of the Hinkley Point C Value for Money Assessment.

Wider benefits realisation plan

There are many wider benefits from this large infrastructure project during its 10 years of construction. This plan sets out the benefits and how they will be delivered:

Hinkley Point C: wider benefits realisation plan

Funded Decommissioning Programme

The Secretary of State has approved the Funded Decommissioning Programme (FDP) for Hinkley Point C. Approval is conditional upon the CfD being executed and coming into legal effect. The FDP sets out how the generator will provide for the funding of the treatment, storage, transportation and disposal of nuclear waste, the decommissioning of the facility and the clean-up of the site to so that the taxpayer does not have to bear the burden of these costs in future.

Llanbrynmair and Carnedd Wen wind farm applications redetermination: First round representations, published September 2016.

Second round representations, published September 2018.

Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are special sites designated under the EU Birds Directive to protect rare, vulnerable and migratory birds.

The original boundary proposal map missed out some areas in Portsmouth Harbour and all of Pagham Harbour. There was a mapping error in the River Avon where the boundary was not drawn to the mean high water as stated in the departmental brief. The map has been corrected and replaced.

Some stakeholders were also not made aware of the original consultation so there’s an extended opportunity for comments. All previous responses have been recorded and will be included and submitted to the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs. The consultation summary document and departmental brief have been replaced.

The proposal for Solent and Dorset Coast is to create a new SPA for internationally important populations of:

• common tern
• Sandwich tern
• little tern

This area is particularly important to these birds as much of the sea around their breeding colonies is the ideal habitat for plunge diving for food.

The proposal is available as a series of separate documents (attached above). You should:

• read the consultation summary that sets out the aims of the proposal
• read the departmental brief that provides the scientific explanation behind the proposal
• use the map to locate the proposal site (this is a large file and may take some time to open)

You can obtain site boundaries as vector polygons in both ESRI ArcMap shapefile and Pitney Bowes MapInfo tab file formats from Natural England’s GIS Digital Boundary Datasets.

Use the ‘respond online’ link below to give your views.

Requirement R095

Requirement detail

The MMO requires a character description of the north east, south east, south west and north west marine plan areas to support marine planning. Evidence is required to characterise both the inshore and offshore areas.

This work will be split into the following parts:

1. characterisation of the above marine plan areas via desk study
2. stakeholder validation of the findings
3. visual amenity analysis to show where the sea is visible from the land
4. field work, which is not a priority to deliver as part of this requirement, but could potentially add value to the findings.

MMO use

Marine Planning: will use the characterisation work (stakeholder validation if available) to help inform marine plan development, particularly in relation to identifying seascape related issues and developing plan policies for seascape.

Marine Licensing: will use the visual amenity analysis to help determine the impacts of developments at sea from the land and vice versa, which will inform licensing decisions where relevant.

External interest:

Natural England, Environment Agency, Cefas