• Vattenfall reports jump in Q4 earnings
• Five-year investment plan focuses on wind, grid
• Plans for new nuclear too costly for companies alone, CEO says

OSLO, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The Swedish government will have to take a direct stake in new nuclear projects given the size of the financial commitment, the CEO of state-owned utility Vattenfall told Reuters on Thursday.

The Nordic country's right-of-centre government wants to revive its nuclear power sector and is offering a combination of cheap loans and price guarantees to companies willing to invest.

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Vattenfall's Videberg Kraft subsidiary plans to build several small, modular reactors with around 1,500 megawatts of combined capacity at the site of its Ringhals nuclear facility in south-west Sweden and applied for funding in December.

While a consortium of industrial groups will take a 20% stake in the project company, the intention is that the Swedish state will also have a direct ownership, CEO Anna Borg said.

"The size of the project is of course large and that also means that we will not consolidate that on the Vattenfall balance sheet," Borg said.

She was speaking after Vattenfall reported fourth-quarter underlying earnings before interest and tax of 9.5 billion Swedish crowns ($1.1 billion), a tenfold rise from 922 million crowns a year earlier.

The gains were mainly driven by improved price hedging of Vattenfall's continental European generation and better availability and prices for its Swedish nuclear output, Borg told Reuters.

She said nuclear negotiations with the government and suppliers remained ongoing, and declined to give any cost estimates.

Most of Vattenfall's 165-billion-crown investment budget over the next five years is earmarked for wind power and electricity grids.

"When it comes to new nuclear the main investment volumes will come after this five-year period," Borg said.

($1 = 9.0101 Swedish crowns)

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/swedish-nuclear-plans-need-direct-state-investment-vattenfall-says-2026-02-05/