EDF'S plans for a new generation of nuclear plants in Britain will create thousands of jobs, an investment so large it could reduce the government's need to invest in job creation, the head of British Energy promised yesterday.
The French power giant announced plans to buy British Energy for £12.5 billion in September, promising to build four European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) plants next to existing nuclear plants in England over the next 17 years.
And yesterday Bill Co
ley, the American who has run East Kilbride-based British Energy since 2005, said few posts would be lost in the merger of the largely distinct companies – EDF has a major retail business, and British Energy is a generation and wholesale specialist. He said constructing the new stations would create a "tremendous" number of new jobs.
Building of the plants would be a "huge undertaking" said Coley. "It will be a very sizeable construction workforce, well in the thousands.
"That will create a tremendous number of jobs, not only in the new company but also a tremendous number in the supply chain in the UK."
EDF is expected to spend more than £10bn on the new plants, with construction of the first beginning in 2012, while it aims to commission the fourth plant by 2025. Coley estimated the new stations would need up to 600 staff each to run.
"Quite frankly, when you look at the economy in the UK right now, this is very good news to have a transaction this large and the intention to invest this much private capital in new assets," Coley said. "It would certainly seem to have the ability to lesson what the government plans, in the way of investment in job creation."
While none of the plants will be built in Scotland, Coley said two of its main suppliers, Glasgow-based Weir Group and the Renfrew-based nuclear division of Doosan Babcock Energy, were likely to do "very well" from the investment in new plants.
EDF's bid for British Energy is conditional on shareholder approval and clearance from the European Commission's competition investigation. Coley declined to predict the outcome of the competition review, which could come as early as 8 December, but said the arguments submitted by the two companies were "robust".
He made the comments as British Energy reported a 49 per cent fall in underlying earnings in the six months to 28 September, with production hit by plant shut downs.
Shareholders are expected to approve the EDF takeover, but some experts are sceptical. Lakis Athanasiou, a utilities analyst at Evolution Securities said the bid from EDF "significantly undervalues" British Energy. "We continue to consider the action by the British government in forcing the bid through as wrongheaded," he said.
