- Britain’s workers and industries supported as Energy Secretary and Great British Energy announce a major public-private deal to drive investment into offshore wind jobs
- Great British Energy’s initial investment of £300 million to catalyse a further £700 million from industry and The Crown Estate, taking the total pot to £1 billion as part of the Industrial Strategy
- Comes as Clean Industry Bonus allocations are confirmed, as government turbocharges delivery of clean energy jobs and growth through the Plan for Change
Britain’s workers in industrial heartlands such as Teesside, Scotland, South Wales and East Anglia are set to benefit from a major deal crowding in investment for the country’s industrial renewal.
The government and Great British Energy, the UK’s publicly owned clean power company, have today (Tuesday 17 June) joined forces with industry and The Crown Estate to invest £1 billion in offshore wind supply chains. This will secure Britain’s renewal through manufacturing facilities and skilled well-paid jobs, delivering on government’s mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower.
Investment comes after the Spending Review confirmed the biggest programme of investment in homegrown energy in history and forms part of the government’s Industrial Strategy – which will include clean energy industries – sending a clear signal to the world to ‘Build it in Britain’.
This investment will power the next generation of offshore wind in Britain, supporting British innovation from blueprint to blade. By backing the manufacturing of turbines, floating platforms, HVDC cables, and cutting-edge technologies, alongside upgrading vital port infrastructure from Leith and Teesside to Great Yarmouth and Port Talbot. This investment will unlock thousands of jobs, kickstarting growth in coastal communities and industrial towns, and secure a cleaner, more independent energy future for Britain.
The funding is made up of
- £300 million announced by Great British Energy in April, which provides upfront public investment to crowd in funding from the private sector into Britain’s industrial regions
- £400 million from The Crown Estate, intended to support new infrastructure, including ports, supply chain manufacturing and research and testing facilities
- £300 million being developed by the offshore wind industry to match fund government through the Industrial Growth Plan, to deliver new investments into supply chains such as advanced turbines technologies and foundations and substructures
This takes the pot to £1 billion, building the industries of the future in Britain, such as floating offshore wind, and securing the UK as an attractive investment destination for international investors and existing UK companies.
Funding will support thousands of additional jobs – from the electricians manufacturing the turbines and blades to the engineers responsible for the construction and maintenance of wind farms. The government is giving long-term industrial certainty to hardworking British people as part of the Plan for Change.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said
This is an unprecedented collaboration between public and private investors with Great British Energy crowding in millions of private sector investment from industry and The Crown Estate, to ensure that British companies and workers win the global race for clean energy.
We are witnessing the coming of age of Britain’s green industrial revolution as we build this new era of clean energy abundance, helping deliver new jobs, energy security and lower household’s bills through our Plan for Change.
Great British Energy Chief Executive Dan McGrail said
Today’s announcement highlights the unique role Great British Energy can play in the market. By providing state-backed, catalytic investment, we can deliver on our remit to crowd-in investment, giving much needed certainty to developers and investors in the clean energy sector. GBE will continue to support domestic supply chains, driving sustainable economic growth for all corners of the UK.
RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Jane Cooper said
A concerted focus from industry and government on growing the offshore wind industry’s supply chain in the UK could deliver an extra 10,000 jobs between now and 2035, boosting the UK’s economy by £25 billion. Our sector is stepping up, working closely with the Energy Secretary and the Crown Estate to create new opportunities for manufacturing high-value goods like turbine towers, blades, foundations and cables, and providing high quality jobs building, operating and maintaining offshore wind farms.
Our ambition is to transform quaysides around our coastline into clusters of global excellence in offshore wind, bringing new jobs and investment to communities which often badly need economic renewal.
Richard Sandford, Chair of the Offshore Wind Industry Council, said;
Growing our supply will avoid the kind of bottlenecks that push up costs and cause delays, so it is good for developers, consumers and our Clean Power Mission. We are working to match the government’s funding to support a homegrown supply chain, and drive long-term sector growth. It’s vital that industry and government keep working together to remove barriers so that we can get more capacity through clean power auctions and more funding to the supply chain.
Gus Jaspert CMG, Managing Director, Marine at The Crown Estate, said
The power of offshore wind is not just in secure, green energy, but also in the opportunity to create jobs, investment and support economic growth across the country. As our ambition on renewable energy grows, so too does our ambition to grow the UK’s supply chain and infrastructure. Scaling up investment in our domestic supply chain will propel the UK towards its clean energy goals and take our world-leading sector to the next level, supporting thousands more jobs and creating an increasingly attractive environment for investors.
The funding comes as Great British Energy have announced that leading public finance and investment institutions have come together to accelerate the deployment of funding, supporting domestic supply chain development for offshore wind projects.
Great British Energy will bring together the National Wealth Fund, The Scottish National Investment Bank, The Crown Estate, Crown Estate Scotland and The Development Bank of Wales, agreeing to develop a unified public finance ‘ecosystem’ to build Britain’s offshore wind supply chains.
The government will also allocate up to £544 million from its Clean Industry Bonus, which provides funding to offshore wind developers for prioritising their investment into some of Britain’s most deprived communities, and in cleaner supply chains.
Funding will go to developers investing in regions such as Scotland, the North East and the East Anglia. Subject to the outcome of this year’s renewables auction, industry estimates this could support up to 14,000 jobs, and drive up to £9 billion of private funding into these communities over the next four years. For every £1 spent on the bonus, it is estimated to crowd in £17 of private investment.
This means unlocking private sector investment into manufacturers of electrical equipment, heavy steel products, upgraded port facilities and the high-tech components needed to build floating and fixed offshore wind farms.
This will support good jobs for British people in these regions – delivering the government’s mission to become a Clean Energy Superpower and Plan for Change.
Notes to editors
Offshore wind supply chains
The funding comes as Great British Energy today have announced that leading public finance and investment institutions have come together to accelerate the deployment of funding, supporting domestic supply chain development 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 have each agreed to develop a unified, integrated public finance ecosystem to support the growth of the UK’s offshore wind sector.
Developers are set to contribute to the pot once they have secured a Contracts for Difference in the next auction round (AR7).
Clean Industry Bonus
Industry applied for Clean Industry Bonus in their numbers, with hundreds of bids, in a major vote of confidence for the Prime Minister’s mission to become a Clean Energy Superpower.
Up to £200 million has been allocated to invest in clean energy facilities in the North East, unlocking up to an additional £4 billion private sector investment into manufacturers such as electrical equipment and heavy steel products.
Up to £185 million has been allocated to Scotland, unlocking up to £3.5 billion private sector investment in ports and high-tech components needed to build floating and fixed offshore wind farms.
The East of England has been allocated up to £20 million and Northern Ireland has up to £25 million to develop clean energy manufacturing capacity.
Offshore wind developers will now go on to bid for contracts to deliver their projects, as part of the next Contracts for Difference renewables round. This means there will be some attrition in winning CIB bids. Those project that win CfD contracts can then finalise the above investments into factories, with any unsuccessful projects in the main auction able to bid again next year.
