Hitachi buys UK’s Horizon nuclear project from RWE npower, E. ON for $1.12 bn

Japanese industrial electronics maker Hitachi is buying UK's Horizon nuclear project from German energy giants RWE npower and E. ON for £696 million ($1.12 billion).

Hitachi said that two leading British companies Babcock International and Rolls-Royce had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to join Hitachi in the Horizon project after RWE and Eon withdrew from the UK nuclear market.

"The Hitachi Horizon programme involves building two to three 1,300 MW plants at each of Horizon's sites at Wylfa, Anglesey, and Oldbury, Gloucestershire, with the first unit becoming operational in the first half of (the) 2020s," Tokyo-based Hitachi said in a statement.

The UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change said that the Horizon's four to six nuclear power plants, once completed, could provide up to 14 million homes with electricity for over 60 years.

"This is a decades-long, multi-billion pound vote of confidence in the UK, that will contribute vital new infrastructure to power our economy,'' said Prime Minister David Cameron.

In March, Britain's plans to build a fleet of new generation nuclear plants for its energy needs suffered a setback after the two German utilities pulled out from the $23.78 billion Horizon nuclear project, citing the German government's decision to abandon nuclear power, as well as the economic crisis in Europe.