NEWS & INSIGHTS | Opinion
The UK just made its biggest nuclear investment in decades
Luca Corradi
Luca works to bring “the outside in”, connecting innovators and academics across sectors and disciplines, to explore the latest technologies that could be adopted to address oil and gas industry challenges. Leading The Net Zero Technology Centre’s horizon scanning activity, he identifies emerging technology trends, cutting through the hype to identify potential areas of impact and application. With a background in business and organisational change leadership, Luca has developed a strong network and is passionate about harnessing this to deliver the next generation of the net zero energy industry.
Outside work Luca loves reading, music and travel. He is married with two young daughters and a dog. He enjoys the rare motorbike ride in Scotland and even rarer ski trip on the Alps.
This week’s net zero news: Hydrogen Demand; Global Offshore Wind; Sizewell C Nuclear Plant
Chief Technology Officer at NZTC, Luca Corradi, and his team closely monitor the global net zero landscape. They follow the trends, policies, investments, and technological innovations that, together, bring the world closer to its shared climate goals. Learn more about our horizon scanning service. This week, Luca and his team look at recommendations to drive hydrogen demand and grow the offshore wind, and UK’s nuclear expansion.
Hydrogen UK’s report ‘Driving Demand’ assesses the role hydrogen will play in a decarbonised system and provides recommendations to drive demand
Following much debate, there is now greater certainty on where hydrogen has a role in decarbonisation. Whilst it’s important to prioritise offtakers that have no alternative to hydrogen, many sectors must evaluate the use of hydrogen on a case-by-case basis. Site characteristics, geography, local energy system constraints and operational requirements all play a role in determining the most cost effective and deliverable decarbonisation pathway.
The key areas where Hydrogen UK sees a role for hydrogen are:
Industry – Hydrogen’s strongest opportunities lie within decarbonising the hard-to-abate sectors of the UK’s foundational industries, many of which are energy intensive but will struggle to fully electrify. Key applications include chemicals, refining, steel and glass & ceramics.
Power – The Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan recognises the critical role of hydrogen for inter-seasonal energy storage, and for hydrogen to power as a key low carbon dispatchable technology alongside gas-CCS. Hydrogen can also provide grid balancing services to support intermittent renewables.
Transport – Non-Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM) are often used in remote, grid-limited sites. Hydrogen can help NRMM’s decarbonise whilst ensuring uptime remains high. Hydrogen has advantages over electric for HGVs that require around-the-clock use, have extremely high payloads or are used off-grid. Low carbon hydrogen will also be required to produce alternative fuels for long-haul aviation and shipping, such as Sustainable Aviation Fuel, ammonia or methanol.
Source: Hydrogen UK – ‘Driving Demand’ Report
‘Global Offshore Wind Report 2025’ by the Global Wind Energy Council assesses the status of offshore wind and provides recommendations to grow the sector
The Global Offshore Wind Report 2025 outlines a sector at a crossroad. The case for offshore wind has never been stronger and most governments and developers remain committed to offshore wind. Yet recent years have been marked by significant economic headwinds, geopolitical tensions and industry-specific challenges such as slow permitting, grid transmission delays and poor auction design.
This has led the Global Wind Energy Council to downgrade its global offshore wind outlook for total additions in 2025–2029 by 24% compared with their previous projection.
Despite this there is a huge opportunity in the second half of the forecast period with a compound average annual growth rate of 28% until 2029.
Auctions are a cornerstone for offshore wind development but have recently seen failures. Recommendations include better risk sharing, and planning auctions to enable predictable project timelines and clear planning for associated transmission and infrastructure.
Permitting is a major source of delay, increasing development costs and reducing investor confidence. The report recommendations governments enact clear deployment mandates, centralise permitting reviews, embed “overriding public interest” in national law and facilitate early stakeholder engagement.
Transmission infrastructure is a critical bottleneck for offshore wind. Recommendations include adopting anticipatory, centralised grid planning, as seen in Germany.
New offshore wind installations by market
Source: Global Offshore Wind Energy Council – Global Offshore Wind Report 2025
Sizewell C Nuclear Plant has secured Final Investment Decision from the government
The UK Government has approved the final investment decision for the Sizewell C nuclear power station, becoming the largest shareholder with an initial 44.9% stake. Other key investors include EDF, Centrica, La Caisse and Amber Infrastructure.
The estimated cost of the project has increased significantly—from £20 billion to approximately £38 billion. To accommodate potential overruns, total funding will exceed £45 billion. This includes £8.8 billion in equity from the government and private investors, with the remaining £36.6 billion provided as debt by the National Wealth Fund.
Once complete, Sizewell C will produce 3.2 GW of electricity, enough to power around six million homes.
The Sizewell C reactor is expected to begin operating in the mid-to-late 2030s and deliver electricity for at least 60 years. Sizewell C copies the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) design from the Hinkley Point C power plant currently under construction.
No new nuclear plant has opened in the UK since 1995, with all of the existing fleet except Sizewell B likely to be phased out by the early 2030s. Alongside Hinkley and Sizewell, the government is looking at small modular reactors and investing in research and development for fusion energy.
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