Npower’s Massara brands Hinkley an ‘expensive mistake’

Npower chief executive Paul Massara has hit out at the Hinkley Point C new nuclear project, branding it an “expensive mistake” in light of a changing energy landscape.

EDF’s giant 3.2GW new nuclear plans for the Hinkley site are reportedly due to be publically finalised in the coming weeks but Massara told the Sunday Times that rapid change in the energy sector means the project will be questioned by future generations.

“The energy industry in 10 years is going to look very, very different because of the pace of technological change,” Massara told the newspaper.

“We’ll need to release some of those big bets we’re making because I think they will turn out to be very expensive for customers.”

The lifespan of the project could outlive its relevance to the industry which is undergoing radical change from the traditional utility model.

Greater renewable energy deployment, storage solutions and an expected doubling of power interconnectors to the continent may all make expensive centralised power generation redundant.

The industry is seeing an increased shift away from centralised energy towards decentralised energy and demand-side management. Earlier this year National Grid told Utility Week that by the end of next decade it will use demand-side measures to meet the majority of the system balancing needs.

More recently Centrica announced a billion pound strategy swing away from centralised assets towards its supply business, and helping its business customers to manage their demand.

Massara reportedly told the paper that his stance against Hinkley is not an attack on the project itself but as a visible and costly symptom of an energy policy which on the whole is disjointed.

Last week the Independent claimed that government has already agreed a price with EDF to support the project but that it would announced after the summer parliamentary recess.