Output shrank to about 37 TWh after two stations closed. The UK wants to build as much as 24 GW of new nuclear capacity by 2050, with 6 GW in the next decade at a cost of more than £150 billion. “With revenues materializing around a decade after the Final Investment Decision, few banks are willing to consider financing nuclear power.

Small module reactors suffer financing setbacks and regulatory headwinds. Shares of NuScale are down 70% this year. A $1.8 bln deal for X-energy to go public collapsed. Oklo plans to go public and raise $500 mln via SPAC, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied its permission, saying it did not provide enough information on its reactor design.

Naarea has already raised €50 mln from a handful of French family offices. The molten salt fast neutron reactors the size of a bus will burn plutonium and radioactive waste, have a 40MW electricity output and produce heat as well. Ceramic will prevent corrosion from the liquid fuel, something that has hampered the development of such reactors in the past.

Enel is planning to cut renewable investments (from €17 bln to €12.1bln), spend more on grids and pledged more fiscal discipline, under the new management. Italy will account for 49% of investments. Enel’s debt was €69 bln at the end of 2022 and should be cut by €11.5 bln by the end of 2024. The group will exit Argentina, Peru and Romania.

Japanese companies are dropping out of offshore wind projects in Taiwan, one of fastest growing markets for the technology, as rising costs and worsening delays plunge the industry into trouble worldwide. This will affect Taiwan's plans to eliminate nuclear power, cut the use of coal, increase natural gas and increase offshore wind capacity.

Germany’s constitutional court ruled against reallocating the unspent money borrowed during the coronavirus pandemic for the energy transition, which will affect government plans. The constitution places limits on government borrowing. The pandemic allowed emergency borrowing, but using that money now for other purposes is unconstitutional.

The German government will provide €7.5 bln of guarantees as part of a rescue package, to save the €110 bln energy projects planned by the company. Engineering problems of the new wind turbines reduced new orders, costs have spiralled, while long term supply contracts locked in sale prices. The company will record a €4.5 bln loss for 2023.

NuScale Power and the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems have ended the 462MW project. In January, NuScale raised the target price for power from the project from $58/MWh to $89/MWh, citing a “changing financial landscape”. NuScale's VOYGR is the only small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) design certified for use in the United States.

Shares in Ørsted plunged 26% today, extending their drop this year to 60%, after the group recorded $4bn of impairments, after it stopped two projects off the New Jersey coast. The offshore wind industry, which has been championed by governments, has been hit hard by supply chain disruptions, rising costs and higher interest rates.

“Offshore Wind remains difficult this year with losses of roughly $1 billion,” said GE CEO Larry Culp. Offshore-wind developers face increasing challenges including supply-chain disruptions, rising costs for components and higher interest rates. The company expects to spin off its power and renewable energy operations next year, to become GE Vernova.

Sector falls 20% in two months. The decline comes despite tens of billions of dollars in tax credits, subsidies and loans by governments in the US and Europe. The renewable sector is particularly vulnerable to high interest rates, because companies agree long-term contracts, fixing the price at which they will sell energy, before developing their projects.

The state, which renationalised EDF, is at odds with boss Luc Rémont, particularly over the way nuclear power prices are regulated, just ahead of its biggest reactor construction programme. EDF has net debt of €65bn with annual spending needs of €25bn per year, up from €16bn-€17bn in the past, and which EDF does not want to finance with more loans.