Leaders of the world’s biggest green energy companies have pledged more than £24bn of new private investment across the UK ahead of a meeting with the Prime Minister on Friday.
Keir Starmer will meet green energy chiefs on the sidelines of the first National Regional Council in Edinburgh, days before the government’s international investment summit next week, to discuss multi-billion pound projects. We are planning to discuss.
Mr Starmer said the wave of private sector spending was a “huge vote of confidence” in the government’s “relentless focus on driving growth across the UK”, creating thousands of jobs across the UK. .
“Whether you are in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or England, we are creating the conditions for business to thrive and our International Investment Summit is the starting point for every region of the UK to become a powerhouse for innovation and investment. ” he said.
Labor ministers are under pressure to show they can fund ambitious plans for economic growth, including an election manifesto promise to create a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030. The government is expected to rely heavily on private sector investment to meet its clean energy goals. After cutting plans to spend £28bn a year on decarbonising Britain’s energy.
The single biggest investment announced ahead of the investment conference was from Spain’s Iberdrola, owner of Scottish Power, which has doubled its plans to invest in the UK’s clean energy ambitions over the next four years. It promised to reach £24 billion.
Europe’s biggest electricity company last year announced plans to invest £12bn in the UK by 2028 to rewire the country’s aging electricity grid and build new renewable energy projects. But on Thursday, investment in the same period was announced after it won a government contract to build a multi-billion pound new offshore wind farm and agreed to buy Electric North West for just over £4 billion. An additional £12 billion has been added to the plan.
Iberdrola’s green energy spending represents a threefold increase in the company’s average annual investment over the past 15 years. Iberdrola board chairman José Ignacio Sánchez Galán credited the UK’s stable investment environment and “clear policy direction” towards net-zero climate targets for promoting investment.
Danish company Ørsted has also committed to spending £8bn on offshore wind, alongside Greenvolt, which plans to spend £2.5bn on planned offshore wind farms.
Mads Nipper, CEO of Orsted, said: “We are investing in the UK because of our commitment to clean energy goals and to building the policy framework needed to achieve those goals. This is because the government, which wants to see this happen, is also looking at it.” Work with businesses to make the necessary investments possible. ”
Other investments announced on Thursday include £1.3 billion from Australian infrastructure investment bank Macquarie for the Island Green Power solar farm and superfast electric vehicle charging point in Stowe, Norfolk.
Additionally, US nuclear engineering company Holtec will invest £325m in a new factory in South Yorkshire to supply materials for Hinkley Point C nuclear power station and the planned Sizewell C nuclear power station, with a 20-year promised to create 1,200 jobs.
BW Group also plans to invest £300m in a new battery energy storage project in Birmingham, while offshore wind infrastructure manufacturer SeAH Wind will invest £225m in its manufacturing site in Teesside, with plans to invest until 2027. It is expected that 750 jobs will be created.
