French utility EDF announced Wednesday that the price tag for Hinkley Point C under construction in Somerset, England, had risen by about $605 million and the completion date for Unit 1 had been pushed back to June 2026.
Previously, Unit 1 was expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
EDF said that substantial progress had been made “despite being affected by the Covid-19 health crisis.”
Workers at the construction site are keeping themselves appropriately socially distant from other workers, however, this is not always possible in a construction site. If workers must work side-by-side, they are wearing extra protective gear, the company said.
“The expected completion costs are now estimated in the range of $26.6 billion and $27.83 billion,” EDF said. The original price estimate for Hinkley Point C, which will create 7 percent of England’s generated electricity, was $24.57 billion. That had already been changed to costs between $26.02 billion and $27.23 billion.