The UK renewables industry has welcomed the creation of GB Energy, which was confirmed by King Charles in his speech at the state opening of the UK Parliament.
He said the new public body – which featured highly in Labour’s pre-election manifesto and is backed by a new National Wealth Fund – will be headquartered in Scotland and will “accelerate investment in renewable energy including offshore wind”.
Representative body RenewableUK said the measure would improve energy security and affordability.
RUK’s executive director of policy Ana Musat said: “Today’s King’s Speech provides a range of welcome measures that are essential for accelerating the energy transition and generating economic growth.
“It is particularly welcome to see the announcement of a Planning and Infrastructure Bill, to ensure that essential infrastructure can be deployed without delay.
“Setting up Great British Energy to mobilise investment into renewables and support engagement with local communities will also play an important role in helping us meet our deployment targets.
“Ensuring this institution works well alongside the National Wealth Fund and other financial institutions will be essential to enable the private sector to mobilise the finance required to deliver the energy transition: in offshore wind alone, £100bn of private investment will be needed to deliver Labour’s target of 60GW by 2030.”
Claire Mack, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, (pictured) said: “Today’s King’s Speech has built on the UK Government’s early focus on kickstarting economic growth and accelerating our move to a clean energy system, including its commitment to tackling the unnecessary delays that currently hinder delivery of critical infrastructure.
“As the UK Government seeks to establish GB Energy which will provide a boost with its headquarters in Scotland, we encourage them to work closely with industry to ensure it delivers the additionality we need to secure much needed investment for our impressive pipeline of projects.
“Aligning GB Energy with the National Wealth Fund and underpinning this with an empowering green industrial strategy, as well as initiatives delivered by the Scottish Government, presents a unique opportunity for scaling-up our supply chains and emerging technologies, particularly floating offshore wind.
“As we accelerate the delivery of clean energy projects, it will also be essential that the UK Government quickly tackles existing barriers to investment in the form of damaging transmission charges and new threats such as proposed electricity market reform measures as well as responding to the need to get behind a public awareness campaign highlighting the undoubted social and economic benefits that clean energy will bring to the UK.
“In that effort, we look forward to working closely with the UK Government to build the policy stability, regulatory agility and visibility of support our industry needs to help deliver our clean energy ambitions.”
The REA (Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology) has welcomed the Government’s legislative plans for this Parliament.
However, it said that the Government must work together with the private sector to ensure alignment.
The REA said: “As our members have repeatedly highlighted, investment vehicles such as GB Energy and the National Wealth Fund must focus on addressing market inefficiencies and removing obstacles to private sector investment in new technologies and business models.
“It is crucial to collaborate with the private sector rather than compete against it.”