Spanish utility Iberdrola has decided to sell its part ownership of the NNB Development Company, a Belgium-based nuclear new-build consortium shared 50:50 with French utility GDF Suez.
The consortium owns NuGeneration Ltd (NuGen), which is planning the Moorside project, which consists of a power plant with capacity up to 3.6 GW on a site adjacent to Sellafield in the UK.
Iberdrola has announced that it signed an agreement with Toshiba for the deal on 21 December worth £85 million (€102 million). The deal is subject to obtaining the extension of the options rights on the Moorside site. The deal is part of Iberdrola’s strategy of divestment of non-strategic assets.
Toshiba subsidiary Westinghouse was competing for a nuclear new-build contract from the UK’s Horizon Nuclear Power for its AP1000 reactor design, until Horizon’s utility owners sold it to rival Japanese vendor Hitachi in 2012. The AP1000 reactor went through most of the phases of the UK’s generic design assessment process, but was halted while waiting for a vendor.
A NuGeneration Ltd spokesman declined to comment on the deal, and neither Iberdrola, Toshiba, nor GDF Suez have issued press releases. Moreover, the Iberdrola announcement said that the final price paid may vary from the stated value, because it is subject to ‘customary adjustments in operations of this nature’.
