UK and Japan governments to pump £15bn into nuclear plant
The Wylfa Newydd scheme is set to get a multi-billionpound cash boost from the UK and Japanese governments, according to sources in Japan.
It is reported that the two governments are set to extend a combined £15bn in loans and investment with the help of financial institutions to the project, taking a stake in Horizon Nuclear Power.
This could push the £10bn project over the line after concerns it was in danger of stalling as Hitachi, the firm behind Horizon, attempted to get private investors behind the plant.
According to the Asahi Shimbun news group, the loans from the Japanese side will be mainly extended by the government-affiliated Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and three megabanks. They also say that the UK and Japanese governments will invest billions of pounds, taking on part of Horizon.
Sources in the UK confirmed a deal now looked imminent, although Horizon said it was not yet in a position to comment on the details.
Under the plans the two reactors on Angslesey will start operating in the mid-2020s.
Hitachi has previously said it will decide by summer 2020 whether to proceed with the project.
The news comes just a day after the Welsh Government said it would make an equity or loan investment in the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon to help reduce the project’s borrowing costs.
The move is intended to help reduce the cost of a Government subsidy for the lagoon under the contract for difference scheme.
A Horizon spokesman said: “It’s no secret we’re in discussions with the UK and Japanese governments, and have been for some time, over support for our project. With these discussions still ongoing, it is too early to comment on the specifics of what a future deal may look like.
“We’re confident – given the benefits our project will deliver locally on Anglesey, but also nationally and internationally – that we’ll reach a successful conclusion to these discussions in the near future.”
Last autumn the Hitachi chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi held talks with the Chancellor Philip Hammond in London which reportedly included discussions over finance for Wylfa Newydd.
The Sunday Times reported at the time that the UK Government might take a 25% equity stake in the project, but that the Tresasury was concerned such as move would add to the Government’s debt.
The Times quoted Horizon chief Duncan Hawthorne as saying that the company could not continue “throwing a bottomless pit of cash at a project without some certainty it can get to a successful conclusion”.