One of the new UK Government’s key energy pledges from the 2024 general election was the creation of Great British Energy – also called GB Energy.
Over the course of this parliament, the new government intends to invest £8.3 billion of funding into this new, publicly owned green power company. Energy secretary Ed Miliband has appointed climate and energy expert Chris Stark to lead its new ‘Mission Control’ centre. Together with Great British Energy, it will work to ‘turbocharge’ the UK Government’s target to deliver clean power by 2030.
The company is modelled on nationalised energy champions such as EDF in France or Sweden’s Vattenfall, though it will not have anything like the spending power of either.
Credit: Marine Directorate Image Bank
The intention is that GB Energy won’t supply electricity directly to households. Instead, it will work with the private sector to co-invest in emerging energy technologies to make them competitive with more mature technologies, including:
- hydrogen that’s created from water (water electrolysis), also called green hydrogen
- floating offshore windfarms
- tidal power
The government also intends to scale investment in existing mature technologies, such as:
- onshore wind
- solar power
- nuclear energy
It will also work with local authorities and community energy organisations to expand small and medium renewable energy projects, like solar, wind and hydroelectricity.
Great British Energy founding statement click here