French giant joins SSE in nuclear power bid

Published on Wednesday 4 February 2009 20:18

GDF Suez has become the latest international utility company to join the bidding to build new nuclear stations in Britain, after it was welcomed into a Scottish joint venture.

The French giant, which was formed last year from the merger of Gaz de France and Suez, has joined a joint venture between Perth-based Scottish & Southern Energy and ScottishPower/Iberdrola that plans to build new plants.

In a statement, the three companies said the venture would compete to buy former nuclear sites owned by the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

It will also investigate buying sites next to the former British Energy nuclear plants now owned by French nuclear giant EDF, which was is required to make land available as a condition of the takeover of the East Kilbride headquartered company.

Sweden's Vattenfall is believed to have discussed entering the process by joining the Scottish joint venture and yesterday the three parties said they may consider adding more partners later.

E.ON and RWE, Germany's two largest utilities, have also formed a joint venture to compete for sites, and are reportedly prepared to invest 10 billion in building new nuclear plants in the UK.

It is understood that the shareholding of the venture is now 40 per cent each to GDF Suez and ScottishPower/Iberdrola, and 20 per cent for SSE, apparently reflecting the level of expertise in the sector.

GDF Suez said it has 40 years of experience in the nuclear industry and "has long expressed a desire to play an active role in the nuclear revival around the world".

Iberdrola has stakes in seven nuclear power plants in its native Spain, although new development is currently frozen there.

SSE has little in the way of direct nuclear experience, although its involvement in the consortium is likely to be welcomed by the government.

SSE – now Scotland's largest company by market capitalisation – along with Centrica, which is seeking to team up with EDF, are the only British-owned companies directly linked to the process.