Some of the UK’s leading public finance and investment institutions have joined forces to accelerate funding deployment and support the development of the domestic supply chain for offshore wind projects.
Great British Energy, The National Wealth Fund, The Scottish National Investment Bank, The Crown Estate, Crown Estate Scotland and The Development Bank of Wales will jointly develop a unified, integrated public finance ecosystem to support growth in the UK’s offshore wind sector.
The funding and financing ecosystem is aimed at giving developers, investors and supply chain businesses the confidence to invest, as well as giving greater clarity on how to secure funding for projects, Great British Energy said.
Supply Chain Director at Great British Energy Rob Gilbert said: “Clean power by 2030 has given the industry a singular focus towards achieving our offshore targets.
“With the creation of GBE, we can now fully support the offshore wind supply chain and work within a structured ecosystem of capital, delivering the right funds to the right projects, enabling private investment, and catalysing support.”
“As Scotland’s development bank, we have the expertise and the pipeline to work with our partners as we’ve announced today,” Scottish National Investment Bank Chief Investment Officer Mark Munro said.
The public finance bodies participating in the announcement will continue to follow their independent investment decision making proccesses, but GBE “will use its convening power within the industry to bring different parties to the table,” GBE said.
Great British Energy recently announced £300 million of funding to invest in offshore wind supply chains with a focus on boosting domestic jobs, mobilising additional private investment, and securing new manufacturing facilities.
Head of Investment at the Crown Estate Ben Brinded said: “We look forward to working with the sector and with government and other public finance institutions to build out the UK’s infrastructure, accelerate deployment and unlock the full economic, social and environmental benefits of offshore wind.”