By Olivia Bugault 
 

Electricite de France SA released on Wednesday an updated schedule and cost estimates for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station that takes into account the impact of the coronavirus pandemic so far.

Hinkley Point C should start generating electricity from its unit 1 in June 2026, compared with an initial announcement of the end of 2025, the French utility company said.

The costs to complete the project should now come in between 22 billion pounds and 23 billion pounds ($30.22 billion-$31.59 billion), compared with a previous estimate of between GBP21.5 billion and GBP22.5 billion, it said.

"As a consequence, the projected rate of return for EDF is estimated between 7.1% and 7.2%," the company said.

EDF specifies that the updated details for the project are based on the assumption that it will be possible to begin a ramp up back to normal site conditions from the second quarter of 2021.

 

Write to Olivia Bugault at olivia.bugault@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 27, 2021 02:42 ET (07:42 GMT)

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