WORLD: Agreement in the UK to mobilize 60 billion pounds in private investment for the transition to green energy
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Britain’s Labor government, led by Keir Starmer, announced on Thursday that it will partner with the business that manages the British Crown’s heritage, the Crown Estate, to boost a large state-owned energy company, with an initial investment of 8.3 billion lira (about 9.8 billion euros), reports the EFE agency.
The bill includes an unprecedented agreement between this new public energy body, Great British Energy, and the Crown Estate, the Government explained in a statement.
The Crown Estate has been managing, since the 18th century, the patrimonial assets of the Crown, including land, water bodies, where most of the offshore wind farms in the country are installed.
According to the statement, the agreement has the potential to mobilize up to 60 billion pounds (71.4 billion euros) in private investment to drive the energy transition in the UK.
The new public energy company is designed “by and for British people” and will be central to the Labor Government’s agenda to make Britain “a clean energy superpower” and will allow the Administration to invest in energy projects across regions of the country.
The remit of the new Great British Energy includes developing and investing in energy projects or managing local energy plans in collaboration with authorities and rural communities, as well as generating “supply chains” or exploring possible collaborations with nuclear energy.
“This innovative agreement between Great British Energy and the Crown Estate is an important step in terms of our goal of energy transition before 2030 and the reduction of electricity bills,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
He confirmed that the headquarters of the new state energy company will be in Scotland and that he has discussions with the Government and Crown Estate in this region to analyze how the new company could help development and investment in the area.
The announcement comes after the new energy secretary, Ed Miliband, “overrode his veto on onshore wind and unlocked affordable solar power generation” and is now “rolling up his sleeves” to boost the clean energy and economic growth they want benefit British taxpayers and communities.
“We Brits need to benefit from our natural resources and investment in clean energy is the way to end energy insecurity in the UK,” Miliband said in the statement.
The main objective of the new public company is, of course, to combat the effects of the cost of living crisis that the country is going through, partly due to dependence on fossil fuels, and to fulfill the plans of the Executive in terms of energy transition until 2030.
