Sellafield nuclear plant
The UK Government says it is committed to renewable energy, and it recently gave the green light to offshore wind farms.
Yet at the same time, the Government is using taxpayers money to subsidise a failed private nuclear operator, British Energy (BE).
British Energy first approached the Government in September 2002, begging for financial support. The Government provided BE with a £50m loan, later extending it to £50m. There was a sense of desperation behind the emergency bailout, as the government failed to get prior European Commission (EC) approval for the loan.
The credit facility has since been reduced to £00m. However, the Government has offered more taxpayers' money under a "secret" restructuring plan now being considered by the EC. If that plan goes ahead, it could cost the taxpayer another £.3 billion to clean up BE's radioactive waste.
BE found itself in trouble largely because of the drop in the wholesale price of electricity, a drop which all energy producers had to contend with. The government's treatment of BE is grossly unfair to other electricity generators, particularly renewable energy companies.
Some competitors, such as the biomass renewable energy company ARBRE, closed as a result of the price drop. Only one company has been kept afloat by the Government: British Energy.
The money squandered on BE could have been spent on renewable energy, but instead it is propping up a dangerous, dirty and hopelessly uneconomic power source.
The Government claims that the aid is needed to guarantee security of electricity supply. This claim is simply untrue, as one of the key reasons BE finds itself in its current position is because there is so much over-capacity in the UK electricity system. By shutting down BE, extra capacity will be made available to struggling competitors who will then have a better chance of survival.
Greenpeace and renewable energy company Ecotricity are challenging the European Commission's decision to approve the loan facility provided to BE by the Government. This case will be heard in the European Courts of First Instance.
