Generation start at UK's Hinkley Point C delayed six months to June 2026

London — The start of generation at the 3.2 GW Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in southwest England is likely to be delayed by six months to June 2026 due to COVID-19 restrictions, project developer EDF said Jan. 27.

As a result, overall project completion costs have been pushed up by around GBP1 billion to a range of GBP22 billion-23 billion ($30.22-$31.59 billion), EDF said.

In a video update, Stuart Crooks, Hinkley Point C managing director, said the coronavirus pandemic had forced a reduction in worker numbers on site, and had also disrupted suppliers.

"So far we've lost three months of scheduled time in 2020, and estimate we could lose another three months in 2021 assuming the conditions allow us to ramp back up the resources following Easter," he said.

The start of generation from the project's 1.6 GW Unit 1 reactor was due at the end of 2025, as announced in 2016. A second unit of similar size is about a year behind in the construction process.

The new capital cost estimate meant the projected rate of return for EDF was now estimated between 7.1% and 7.2%, it said.

Meanwhile, the risk of a "commercial operation date" delay for both Units 1 and 2 has been maintained at 15 and nine months respectively, EDF said.

Realization of these delays would incur a potential additional cost of GBP0.7 billion (in 2015 values), reducing EDF's internal rate of return on the project by 0.3%, it said.

Work on site is now focused on lifting Unit 1's reactor dome into place at the end of 2022, EDF said.