Britain's GB Energy to work with Crown Estate on clean energy projects
By Susanna Twidale
LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) -Britain's new state backed power company GB Energy will work with the Crown Estate to boost investment in and help develop clean energy projects, the government said on Thursday.
Under the terms of the agreement the Crown Estate will create a new division to work with GB energy and for the first time help develop new offshore wind farms, which the government says has the potential to attract between 30 to 60 billion pounds ($77.48 billion) of private investment.
The Crown Estate estimates the partnership will lead to up to 20-30 gigawatts of new offshore wind developments reaching seabed lease stage by 2030, enough power for the equivalent of almost 20 million homes.
"The agreement with the Crown Estate will lead to more investment, cleaner power ... and is a statement of intent that it will be a permanent and transformative institution for our country," said Ed Miliband, the minister for Energy Security and Net Zero said in a statement.
The new Labour government has a target to decarbonise the electricity sector by 2030 which will require a huge and rapid ramp up of renewable power capacity such as wind and solar.
The government will on Thursday put forward legislation to enable the creation of GB Energy, which will be its main tool drive investment in energy, backed by 8.3 billion pounds ($10.73 billion).
The Crown Estate, which comprises of tracts of land and most of Britain's sea bed and is an independently run, commercial business, whose profits go to the Treasury.
It has auctioned leases for sea beds to host offshore wind projects but has not previously been involved in their development.
Profit from the Crown Estate are also used as the benchmark for the level of public funding for the Royal Family, currently set at 12%.
Britain is already the world's second largest offshore wind market by capacity, after China, but the sector has been hit by spiralling costs amid high inflation and bottlenecks in the supply chain.
Last week the government proposed changing rules to allow the Crown Estate to borrow money to invest which the Estate said would give it greater flexibility in the way it supports renewable projects.
The Crown Estate on Wednesday reported record profit due to revenue from offshore wind sea bed leases.
($1 = 0.7744 pounds)
Reporting By Susanna Twidale and Andrew MacAskill; editing by David Evans
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
