Friday 17 February 2012

SSE sells nuclear stake for nearly £6m

SSE has sold its 25% stake in nuclear power project NuGen for £5.75million, an amount which could rise by another £1.25m if progress at the project's site in West Cumbria is good.

The Scottish energy supplier announced plans to sell at the end of last year, saying it wants to focus on areas it has more of an existing expertise in such as renewable energy and gas.

It sold its quarter of the UK project to partners GDF Suez, the French energy firm and Spain's Iberdrola, which now split the venture 50:50.

NuGen has an option to buy the lease of land for a new nuclear power station of up to 3.6GW near Sellafield in West Cumbria.