UK’s state-backed GB Energy partners with Crown Estate to boost clean energy

Britain’s new state-backed power company, Great British Energy (GB Energy), is working with The Crown Estate to boost investment in clean-energy projects, the UK government said today.

Under the terms of the agreement, The Crown Estate will create a new division to work with GB Energy to help develop new offshore wind farms, which the government says has the potential to attract between £30bn and £60bn (up to €71bn) of private investment.

The government said GB Energy will be at the heart of its mission to make Britain a clean-energy superpower. The company “will be owned by the British people, for the British people, backed with £8.3bn of new money over this Parliament to own and invest in clean-power projects in regions across the UK”. 

The Crown Estate, which has a £16bn portfolio of land and seabed, operates independently and returns its profits to the government, brings long-established expertise to the partnership, and has new investment and borrowing powers recently announced by government.

The Crown Estate estimates the partnership will lead to up to 20-30GW of new offshore wind developments reaching seabed lease stage by 2030, enough power for the equivalent of almost 20 million homes. 

The partnership will boost Britain’s energy independence by investing in homegrown power, and with accompanying reforms to policy, cut the time it takes to get offshore wind projects operating and delivering power to homes by up to half, the UK government said. 

It added that the new partnership will see the public sector taking on a new role undertaking additional early development work for offshore wind projects. This will ensure that future offshore wind development has lower risk for developers, “enabling projects to build out faster after leasing and crowding in private sector investment”. It will also help boost new technologies such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, wave and tidal energy, the government added.

Prime minister Kier Starmer has confirmed that Great British Energy will be headquartered in Scotland and will back energy-generation projects in the UK, bringing profits back to the British people. The UK government is in discussions with the Scottish government and Crown Estate Scotland on how Great British Energy could help to support new development and investment within Scotland. 

The UK government is already legislating to give both Great British Energy and The Crown Estate the powers they need to rapidly deliver, with two legislative bills being introduced in Parliament today. 

Starmer said: “My government is laser-focused on delivering change, to make people better off. This innovative partnership between Great British Energy and The Crown Estate is an important step toward our mission for clean energy by 2030, and bringing down energy bills for good.

“This agreement will drive up to £60bn in investment into the sector, turbocharging our country toward energy security, the next generation of skilled jobs, and lowering bills for families and business.”

Energy security and net-zero secretary Ed Miliband said:  “Great British Energy comes from a simple idea – that the British people should own and benefit from our natural resources. Investing in clean power is the route to end the UK’s energy insecurity, and Great British Energy will be essential in this mission. 

“The agreement with The Crown Estate will lead to more investment, cleaner power, more energy security, and is a statement of intent that it will be a permanent and transformative institution for our country.”

Chief executive of The Crown Estate, Dan Labbad, said:  “The Crown Estate exists to serve the national interest, including stewarding our natural resources to deliver a decarbonised, energy-secure and sustainable future. 

“With new powers and by partnering with government, we can drive greater investment into this future for our country, and with it support nature recovery and job creation.”

Great British Energy will have five key functions:

• Project development  – leading projects through development stages to speed up their delivery, whilst capturing more value for the British public 
• Project investment – investing in energy projects alongside the private sector, helping get them off the ground 
• Local Power Plan – supporting local energy-generation projects through working with local authorities, combined authorities and communities 
• Supply chains – building supply chains across the UK, boosting energy independence and creating jobs 
• Great British Nuclear – exploring how Great British Energy and Great British Nuclear will work together, including considering how Great British Nuclear functions will fit with Great British Energy. 

The Crown Estate has already helped the UK to become a global leader in the offshore wind sector, and is currently running one of the world’s largest commercial scale floating-wind leasing programmes in the Celtic sea. This partnership will accelerate that leadership even further. 

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