Hendry: 'UK needs £200bn investment in energy infrastructure'

The UK needs £200bn investment in energy infrastructure over the next 10 years, according to Charles Hendry, energy minister.

Hendry’s comments come ahead of the second phase of the national infrastructure plan, which is due to be released next month.

He said: “We need a broad mix of energy technologies, but nuclear is a big part of that mix.”

Paul Spence, director of strategy at EDF Energy, which is building four nuclear power plants in the UK, said that the construction sector’s ability to cope was “one of the biggest problems facing energy new build.”

He said: “There are two big challenges […] an aging workforce [and] we lag behind other countries in terms of […] productivity”.