CLP Holdings is reviewing its mainland atomic power investments following the nuclear crisis in Japan and Beijing's rethink on its own nuclear policy.
A spokeswoman for CLP said new investments, including a potential 11.9 billion yuan (HK$14.1 billion) stake in the Yangjiang nuclear project in Guangdong, were subject to review. The crisis in Japan and Premier Wen Jiabao's surprise decision to put a brake on approving new atomic energy projects across the mainland have put a cloud over CLP's plans.
Over the past two years, CLP chief executive Andrew Brandler has said the utility is moving away from coal-fired power stations in favour of nuclear and wind power projects on the back of China's plan to boost clean energy sources to combat carbon emissions.
CLP's appetite for atomic energy was underscored in a memorandum of understanding it signed with state-owned China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co in July last year on the potential purchase of a 17 per cent stake in the Yangjiang plant.
The plant is one of the mainland's largest nuclear power projects, costing 70 billion yuan and due for completion in 2013.
CLP already has a 25 per cent stake in the Daya Bay nuclear plant in Guangdong, which was China's first, commissioned in 1994 and controlled by China Guangdong Nuclear Power. Seventy per cent of its output feeds Hong Kong's power needs.
'CLP's investments in new projects may be delayed,' Citigroup analyst Pierre Lau said in a research report.
