Parliament has passed the Great British Energy Bill, marking another step forward for the state-owned energy company.
Close to a year since the current government was elected, legislation to establish its flagship Great British Energy company is now set. This is the first of this government’s bills to receive legislative consent from all three devolved governments.
GB Energy will be backed by £8.3 billion during this parliament, which is expected to last until 2029. According to a notice issued by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) in March, “GB Energy will establish itself as an expert development partner and will develop, invest in, build and operate clean energy projects across the UK”.
Chair of the company Juergen Maier explained: “GB Energy was created to ensure British people reap the benefits of clean, secure, homegrown energy. We now have full backing to scale up the company, crowd in investment, and back clean energy projects across the country.”
Earlier this year, the bill was amended to ensure the company will have a role in supporting community energy projects. Yesterday, Scotland’s community energy fund opened for applications with £4 million backing from GB Energy for local clean energy projects.
People in Wales will also benefit from almost £300 million of GB Energy funding for local renewable energy projects, DESNZ said today.
The company made a £200 million investment to work with schools and the NHS to install install rooftop solar PV on a total of 400 sites, delivering between 70MW and 100MW of solar generation.
GB Energy has also promised a £300 investment to be delivered across the course of this parliament into offshore wind supply chains. The company will today host a round table in Edinburgh alongside the Scottish secretary Ian Murray, focused on supply chains in the country.
DESNZ also said that the energy secretary Ed Miliband will ‘soon’ outline GB Energy’s strategic priorities, including which technologies it will focus on. This makes sense given that the bill’s full title is A Bill to make provision about Great British Energy.
Interim CEO of the company, Dan McGrail — formerly CEO of RenewableUK, a trade association focused on offshore technologies — indicated decisions are close to being made, at a recent industry event.
He did say that the company will likely co-invest to support domestic supply chains, as with the offshore wind funding, as well as in specific projects.
GB Energy also recently pledged that it will ensure its solar supply chain is slavery-free, covered in detail on our sister site, Solar Power Portal. McGrail explained that as a publicly-owned company, the commitment is about “always aspiring to meet the gold standard across all areas of best practice”.
UK law already prohibits modern slavery, and the GB Energy promise is not legally binding.
