Labour’s plans to turn the UK into a “clean energy superpower” are set out in the King’s Speech, with Bills to fund and support the development of renewables.
As promised by the party before it won power, there is a Bill to set up “Great British Energy”, a publicly-owned energy generation company which will own, manage and operate clean power projects across the country.
Labour is also setting out a Bill establishing a national wealth fund, which it says will be central to the Government’s mission to deliver growth and a greener economy.
A Bill to allow the Crown Estate to borrow money aims to boost the roll-out of more offshore wind farms.
The Government said the national wealth fund will directly invest in sectors including ports, gigafactories, steel, carbon capture and green hydrogen, with £7.3 billion of capital aiming to crowd in a further £20 billion in private money.
The fund will deploy money through the UK Infrastructure Bank to allow investments to start immediately, and aims to simplify the UK’s “fragmented landscape of support for businesses and investors”, while generating a return for taxpayers.
The Great British Energy Bill provides for the capitalisation of £8.3 billion of new money over the course of this Parliament to accelerate investment in renewable energy such as offshore wind.
It establishes Great British Energy, based in Scotland, which will take a stake in green energy projects on behalf of the public, in partnership with private investors.
Labour argues that decarbonising the power system will increase energy security by reducing the UK’s dependence on imported oil and gas, which will also reduce consumers’ exposure to volatile international prices.
But it faced criticism before its sweeping election victory for watering down its original plans to spend £28 billion a year on green measures, and experts have warned its bid to achieve 100% clean power by 2030 is a tough ask.
A Bill to modernise the Crown Estate also aims to speed up investment to help bring forward 20-30 gigawatts of new offshore wind licences by 2030, as part of the plans to drive clean energy.
The Crown Estate owns and manages the seabed around England and Wales, developing, preparing and leasing out plots of seabed for offshore wind and other developers.
The Bill will give the Crown Estate the power to borrow from the Exchequer, freeing up its large cash reserves to be invested in new projects to help accelerate the deployment of offshore wind, which needs to as much as quadruple by 2030 to decarbonise the power grid.
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