Could Hinkley C spell the end of EDF?

EDF's apparent obsession with continuing with the increasingly financially toxic European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) programme by building another two units at Hinkley C could spell doom for EDF. Further drastic losses on Hinkley C similar to the mounting losses accrued by AREVA and EDF on the EPRs being built in Finland (Olikuoto) and France (Flamanville) might lead to what hitherto has seemed unthinkable - the break up of EDF. At least a major sell-off of assets seems almost certain if EDF is to...

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Hinkley C - no progress in two years

The only successful thing about the Hinkley C project is the management of the news to imply that there has been progress in the project. In fact there has been absolutely no progress, certainly not in the financial terms, and in many ways things have got worse. That is compared to two years ago when the UK Government's much criticised terms, for paying EDF �94 per MWh (2015 prices) for 35 years underpinned by a 60 per cent loan guarantee by the Treasury, were given state aid clearance by the EU...

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One line or multiple lines . . . That is the question!

All of us have been taught that having a system with one line is �better� than having dedicated lines (one per server). Engineers are taught about this in almost every Operations Research course, in almost every University around the world. Indeed, Queuing Theory provides strong support for this �fact�. It can be �demonstrated� that the average wait time for customers in the one line setting is far less than the average wait time for customers in...

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Government heading for electricity capacity price crisis in 2019

As Conservatives gear up for the next election they could be hit by a electricity crisis as the costs of subsidies for new gas power stations escalate in 2019. This is because of a triple failure of policy; its failure to realise that its nuclear power objectives are undeliverable, the failings of its 'capacity mechanism' which beckon an escalation in costs in 2019, and a failure to promote decentralised energy solutions that would avoid these problems. To cap it all, as the Conservatives implement...

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