Closures a big hit to British Energy
BRITISH Energy today warned the remainder of its financial year would be “significantly impacted” by problems at two of its nuclear stations.
While the UK’s biggest power provider posted an increase in half-year earnings, its outlook has been clouded by the closure of its sites at Hartlepool - which employs almost 540 staff - and Heysham 1 in Lancashire.
The boiler closure unit problems follow outages and subsequent load restrictions at Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B.
British Energy said it would consider an additional dividend to shareholders at the time of its third quarter results, although it added this would be determined by the current operating difficulties.
Half-year underlying earnings rose to £511m from £481m a year earlier, helped by higher power prices.
Total output for the period 30.7 terawatt hours (TWh), down from 31.9 TWh a year earlier following the boiler issues at Hinkley Point and Hunterston.
British Energy chief executive Bill Coley said: “It is unfortunate the output in the second half will be impacted by the boiler closure unit issue at Hartlepool and Heysham 1, which stems from the original design and construction of the stations. The team is in place to deal with this issue.”
Both Hartlepool and Heysham 1 are capable of supplying more than 1.5 million homes during peak loading hours. Both started power generation in 1983 and have estimated decommissioning dates of 2014.
