British Energy Group

British Energy Group plc is the UK’s largest producer of electricity and produces around one-sixth of the nation's electricity. It is said to be the lowest carbon emitter of the major UK electricity generators. British Energy Group employs around 6,000 people and has its headquarters in East Kilbride, Scotland.

Structure of the British Energy Group

British Energy has a main group of companies operating other smaller companies but all are subsidiaries of British Energy Holdings plc. Some of these operating companies include:

• British Energy Generation - British Energy Generation owns and runs 8 of the UK’s nuclear power stations and supplies businesses with electricity. These nuclear power stations are Dungeness B, Hartlepool, Heysham Stage 1, Heysham Stage 2 , Hinkley Point B, Hunterston B, Sizewell B and Torness
  
  
• British Energy Trading and Sales - British Energy Trading and Sales manages all energy trading. Their energy reaches the market via bespoke supply contracts, direct supply to industrial and commercial clients and sales of balancing and ancillary services to the National Grid.
  
  
• British Energy Direct - This is the division responsible for negotiating electricity supply contracts with commercial and industrial customers. Over 1,600 of the UK’s leading companies choose British Energy Direct.
  
  
• Eggborough Power Limited - Eggborough is a 2000 megawatt coal-fired station that was acquired by the group in 2000. This station provides the company with reserve capacity and it complements British Energy’s nuclear generation providing greater production flexibility. The station is located in East Yorkshire and uses coal mined from both within the UK and abroad. Eggborough is comprised of four 500 MW coal-fired units. Each unit consists of a single boiler and a single shaft steam turbine.
  
  
• District Energy - District Energy is a subsidiary company made up of four modern 10 megawatt power plants. These power plants help to meet peaks of demand and also provide an important back-up supply. These power plants are fuelled by natural gas and an advanced combustion system ensures ultra low emissions to the atmosphere. British Energy have paid special attention to the appearance and noise levels of these plants to make sure that their impact on the local environment is kept to a minimum.
  
  
• British Energy Renewables - British Energy also has interests in a small number of renewable projects. Lewis Wind Power is a joint venture between British Energy and AMEC, a leading international project management and services company. The two companies have joined together in the venture to deliver a commercially viable wind farm in the Isles of Lewis.

History of the British Energy Group

The British Energy Group was founded in 1995. It was set up to operate the eight most modern nuclear power plants in the UK. It took the two AGR (advanced gas-cooled reactors) from Scottish Nuclear and five AGR and sole PWR (pressurised water reactor) from Nuclear Electric. In 2007 the group had a net income of £465 million.

The British Energy group today aims to extend the life of its energy stations. In 2005 British Energy announced a 10-year life extension for Dungeness B, which will see the station continue operating until 2018. British Energy hopes most of its other advanced gas-cooled reactors will obtain similar life extensions and that they can continue to develop low carbon emissions.