Released April 01, 2009 | GALWAY, IRELAND
en
Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--A bidding war is under way in the U.K. for land that will be used for building a new generation of nuclear power stations. The online auction of three lots of land adjacent to old nuclear power stations by the U.K.'s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has now entered its third week, and some estimates place the bidding total at more than 200 million euros ($286 million), which is considerably higher than what was expected.
Although the identities of the bidders are confidential, it is believed that there are three key groups in the running. These comprise German power giants RWE Power (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen) and E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf), French electricity utility Electricite de France (EPA:EDF) (Paris), and a consortium made up of Iberdrola Renovables SA (MCE:IBE) (Bilbao, Spain), GDF Suez (EPA:GSZ) (Paris) and Scottish and Southern Energy Plc (LSE:SSE) (Perth, Scotland).
The three lots up for grabs include 178 hectares (438 acres), along with an option to acquire any grid connection rights in Wylfa, North Wales, next to an operating Magnox nuclear power station currently scheduled to close in March 2010. For additional information, see related news item from July 15, 2008 - U.K.'s Magnox Nuclear Reactors at 980-Megawatt Wylfa Station to be Decommissioned after 2010.
The second lot is 48 hectares (119 acres) in Oldbury, Gloucestershire, also next to an operating Magnox nuclear power station that is scheduled to shut down in 2010. The final parcel is for 200 hectares (493 acres) in Bradwell, Essex, next to a Magnox nuclear power station that is currently being decommissioned.
The online auction is being handled by Colliers CRE on its auction website and has been running since March 16. Bidding will continue until 24 hours elapses after the final bid.
"We are into third week of the auction new and we are genuinely surprised," said Bill Hamilton, NDA's head of communications. "The auction has been very successful. Clearly, we thought the auction process would be finished by now, but we would be cutting off our noses despite our faces if we were to shut things down now. The auction will formally close 24 hours after the last bid has been made."
Hamilton would not be drawn on media speculation that bidding had topped $286 million.
"I know there have been several articles but the amounts mentioned so far are 'guesstimates,' " he said. "As for the bidders, we have a tight confidentiality agreement with them, and details have not been released. All the bidders are operating under aliases so they don't know exactly who they are up against, but all bidders can see the bids as they are made. We expect the bidding to be running for at least another day or so. We will make an announcement a day after the auction closes and will also release details on what the auction has raised as a whole."
Right now, the bidders are hoping to purchase land that will be theoretically be used for building new nuclear facilities but, as Hamilton pointed out, these are speculative bids for now.
"We were given no target for the auction in terms of sale value," he said. "This land is very hard to value. The bidders are bidding at risk because these sites have not even got planning permission yet."
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Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.
Although the identities of the bidders are confidential, it is believed that there are three key groups in the running. These comprise German power giants RWE Power (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen) and E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf), French electricity utility Electricite de France (EPA:EDF) (Paris), and a consortium made up of Iberdrola Renovables SA (MCE:IBE) (Bilbao, Spain), GDF Suez (EPA:GSZ) (Paris) and Scottish and Southern Energy Plc (LSE:SSE) (Perth, Scotland).
The three lots up for grabs include 178 hectares (438 acres), along with an option to acquire any grid connection rights in Wylfa, North Wales, next to an operating Magnox nuclear power station currently scheduled to close in March 2010. For additional information, see related news item from July 15, 2008 - U.K.'s Magnox Nuclear Reactors at 980-Megawatt Wylfa Station to be Decommissioned after 2010.The second lot is 48 hectares (119 acres) in Oldbury, Gloucestershire, also next to an operating Magnox nuclear power station that is scheduled to shut down in 2010. The final parcel is for 200 hectares (493 acres) in Bradwell, Essex, next to a Magnox nuclear power station that is currently being decommissioned.
The online auction is being handled by Colliers CRE on its auction website and has been running since March 16. Bidding will continue until 24 hours elapses after the final bid.
"We are into third week of the auction new and we are genuinely surprised," said Bill Hamilton, NDA's head of communications. "The auction has been very successful. Clearly, we thought the auction process would be finished by now, but we would be cutting off our noses despite our faces if we were to shut things down now. The auction will formally close 24 hours after the last bid has been made."
Hamilton would not be drawn on media speculation that bidding had topped $286 million.
"I know there have been several articles but the amounts mentioned so far are 'guesstimates,' " he said. "As for the bidders, we have a tight confidentiality agreement with them, and details have not been released. All the bidders are operating under aliases so they don't know exactly who they are up against, but all bidders can see the bids as they are made. We expect the bidding to be running for at least another day or so. We will make an announcement a day after the auction closes and will also release details on what the auction has raised as a whole."
Right now, the bidders are hoping to purchase land that will be theoretically be used for building new nuclear facilities but, as Hamilton pointed out, these are speculative bids for now.
"We were given no target for the auction in terms of sale value," he said. "This land is very hard to value. The bidders are bidding at risk because these sites have not even got planning permission yet."
View Plant Profile - 1078414 1078631
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.
