nucleareurope moderates roundtable on new nuclear financing
On 19 November 2024, nucleareurope Director General Yves Desbazeille moderated a roundtable on new nuclear power financing, in the framework of an event organised in Brussels by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD NEA) and the French Permanent Representation to the European Union.
The roundtable brought together industry experts, European Commission representatives, investors and diplomats to discuss the key priorities for meeting the challenge of financing new nuclear power.
Hugues Hinterlang, Head of EU Public Affairs For Orano and Elisabeth Rizzotti, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Newcleo provided the industry’s perspective on nuclear financing, they both highlighted the importance of supporting the European nuclear industry to remain in the global race to develop new nuclear, and discussed the need to make investments in new nuclear profitable.
European Commission representative Anna Colucci, DG Competition Director then gave an overview of the main principles guiding State Aid assessments of nuclear projects, before Mechthild Wörsdörfer, DG Energy Deputy Director General discussed financial bottlenecks and potential pathways to foster investments in high CAPEX low-carbon new build projects.
Noting that an increasing number of investors are now willing to consider investing in nuclear projects, Yves turned to BNP Paribas’ Low Carbon Transition Group Managing Director Mark Muldowney, who detailed potential measures that could be implemented by the nuclear industry to convince investors to put money into new nuclear projects.
Concluding the discussion, David Brozina, Deputy Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the EU, listed potential plans for new nuclear projects in Slovenia, and shared his thoughts on the financing of such projects.
“It was a very fruitful discussion, which allowed to gather the perspective of all stakeholders involved in the financing of new nuclear projects, from public authorities and investors to industry itself” said Yves of the discussion, highlighting the importance of bringing stakeholders together to address the main challenges for the financing of new nuclear.