Michał Sołowow to build 14 SMR reactors in UK, seeks Polish CfD support

Polish billionaire and rally driver Michał Sołowow, through his nuclear development company SGE, announced a £35 billion private‑capital plan to construct 14 small modular reactors (SMRs) of the BWRX‑300 design in the United Kingdom. The reactors would be sited on three locations, including the former Oldbury nuclear plant in Gloucestershire, and together would provide about 4.2 GW – enough electricity for roughly 8 million homes for more than six decades. The project relies on a consortium of partners such as GE Vernova, Hitachi, Samsung C&T, Laing O’Rourke, Aecon, Google Cloud and others, and is seeking a contracts‑for‑difference (CfD) support scheme that would guarantee a competitive electricity price when the reactors begin generating power around 2034.

In parallel, Sołowow’s Polish venture OSGE (Orlen Synthos Green Energy) has submitted a separate CfD request to the Polish Ministry of Energy for 14 SMR units in Poland. The first BWRX‑300 block is planned for Włocławek, with a target start‑up in 2032, and additional sites proposed at Stawy Monowskie and Stalowa Wola. Each 300‑MW unit is estimated to cost around €2 billion, and the Polish proposal aims to secure similar state support to accelerate the rollout of SMRs on the continent.