United Kingdom: Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Plant Project. Annex 4

At the end of the 1990s, the U.K. Government established a new energy policy with the following objectives, that are to secure the availability, competitiveness and decarbonization of energy. With the need to 'renew' the means of electricity generation (coal power plants to be closed and the age limit of the existing NPPs, successive U.K. Governments have confirmed their support for nuclear energy since 2005 as a part of a diversified energy mix and have introduced the carbon price floor in 2012 which was a fundamental change of the electricity market encouraging the investments into the production of the decarbonized electricity. The U.K. is one of the first states to legally commit a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in the context where electricity demand in the U.K. may nearly double at that time from today's levels according to estimates. This target requires ambitious actions to reduce emissions while keeping energy costs low and electricity supplies secure. To meet this increasing demand by 2050, the U.K. will need to have a substantial increase in low carbon generation by renewable technologies and new NPPs as existing nuclear power plants will reach the end of their operational lives around 2030.