Opinion: Hinkley Point C is over budget and running late but will be vital to the economy

Although this extraordinary project is not technically within the geography of Northern Devon, it has a huge impact on the local economy. 

This will continue at an intense level as the French Government owned developer – EDF – try to complete this, but also in the long term when the plant becomes operational.

This project remains the largest engineering scheme in Europe. It is the only current UK investment in new nuclear. 

We should have been commencing three other projects, one in North Wales, one in Gloucestershire and one known as Sizewell B. Currently, the Welsh and Gloucester projects have been put on the back burner for the foreseeable future. 

Sizewell remains a potential project but is the subject of political football currently and may or may not emerge.

In the meantime, the government are looking at developing a new approach to nuclear power generation and have refocused on a difference type of solution, being Small Modula Reactors which have lower power outputs but are far cheaper and easier to build and crucially can be delivered within fixed budgets as they are made in factory conditions and then transported to site.

Hinkley remains a huge headache for EDF. They are using what was believed to be the safest design available with a European Pressurised Reactor. There is no doubt that this is a safe solution but the practical problems of building it have proved technically extremely difficult to achieve. 

As a result, cost budgets have run out of control. When Hinkley C was first commissioned the budget was £18.5 billion. It should have been finished in 2024. 

Today, the best prediction is that it might just be finished by 2030 and by then will have cost around £30 billion. Whilst this is currently EDF’s problem, it will ultimately fall back on the UK tax payer through the energy bills. Effectively, we have mortgaged our next generation.

For the South West however this is providing significant income generation for the region. Approximately 10 per cent of the construction budget lands somewhere in the local economy. 

There are currently around 10,000 workers on site. This figure has doubled the original expectation. When completed, the permanent staff on site will be around 1,000, which means continued revenue generation for the regional economy. 

We therefore regularly monitor this programme to understand what stage it has reached. 

The latest state of play is that the fourth and final roof truss was installed into Unit 1 Turbine Hall, taking this structure to its full 50 metre height. This will enable the roof and outer walls to be completed.

The Turbine Hall will contain the world’s largest steam turbine named Arabelle, each turbine will generate enough low carbon electricity for three million homes.

In order to maintain safety, huge intake valves have been constructed to pump sea water into the plant. EDF’s marine team have successfully just completed a crucial section of this. 

This work is highly demanding and they are using some of the most advanced remote guidance systems to assist in accurately positioning the pipework.

Finally, EDF continue to support the local community. They have established a Community Fund which totals around £15 million to support local initiatives. These are designed to help start new projects and to continue to change lives for the better. 

The Community Foundation consists of two programmes, one for small grants (£10,000 to £20,000) and the open grants programme for larger projects.

This extraordinary project will continue at an alarming pace. I will provide frequent updates.