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Major UK energy partnership launched
UK Finance
The UK government, in the person of new prime minister Keir Starmer, has announced the launch its first major partnership. It is between Great British Energy and The Crown Estate, a move that has the potential to release up to £60 billion of private investment into the UK’s drive for energy independence. A new parliamentary bill will enable the company, said to be ‘owned by the British people’ to be backed by £8.3 billion of new catalysing investment over the course of this parliament, to own and invest in clean power projects in regions across the UK. The Crown Estate, which has a £16 billion portfolio of land and seabed holdings and rights, operates independently and returns its profits to the government, brings expertise and new investment and borrowing powers recently announced by government. Great British Energy will bring the critical strategic industrial policy that the state can provide, as well as its own ability to invest.
The Crown Estate estimates this partnership will lead to up to 20-30 GW of new offshore wind developments reaching seabed lease stage by 2030. The partnership is intended to boost Britain’s energy independence by investing in home-grown power, and with accompanying reforms to policy, cut by half the time it takes to get offshore wind projects operating and delivering power.
This partnership will see the public sector taking on a new role undertaking additional early development work for offshore wind projects. This is intended to 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 is expected too that it will help boost new technologies such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, wave and tidal energy.
The prime minister 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 government is already legislating to give both Great British Energy and The Crown Estate the powers they need to rapidly deliver, with two Bills being introduced in Parliament today.
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; A 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 nuclear functions will fit with Great British Energy.
The Great British Energy Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons on 30 July, will support the creation of the new publicly owned company by setting out its objectives and ensuring it has access to necessary finances. The Secretary of State will also have the ability to set Great British Energy’s strategic priorities to ensure it remains focused on the government’s aim to accelerate the delivery of home-grown clean energy power in the UK. The announcements follow the government’s rapid action to set up a new ‘Mission Control’ at the heart of government to deliver clean power by 2030. It will be headed by former Climate Change Committee chief executive Chris Stark.
EU exceeds 50% renewables share for first time Europe Renewables
Electricity industry association Eurelectric has released figures showing that 50% of public electricity generation in the European Union came from renewables for the first time in the first half of 2024, reports online news agency Clean Energy Wire. Eurelectric said Europe was decarbonising at an unprecedented pace, with 74 % of power coming from ‘renewable and low-carbon energy sources’, including nuclear power, marking ‘a significant increase’ over the 68 % share in 2023.
“The pace of change is impressive. These figures document that the decarbonisation efforts of electricity companies are years ahead of any other sector,” said the Association’s secretary general Kristian Ruby. However, said Eurelectric, data on electricity demand was less encouraging: owing to “industry relocating abroad, warmer temperatures, energy savings and slow economic growth, “power demand in the EU in the first half year 2023 decreased by 3.4 %
compared to same period in 2022 and has continued to remain low in the first half 2024, at 2.6 % less than two years earlier”. Mr Ruby stressed that a lower demand for electricity should not suggest that the EU can neglect investments in the sector.
Germany reaches 58% renewables
In Germany, renewables covered 58 % of gross electricity consumption in the first six months of the year, according to preliminary figures by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW). In a press release, ZSW Managing Director Frithjof Staiss said the record figures showed that an “efficient, reliable, secure and greenhouse gas-neutral power supply” was achievable by 2035, adding that Germany and Europe should produce more of the required technologies at home. BDEW chair Kerstin Andreae also called for Germany to remove
6 | July/August 2024 |
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hurdles to the development of power storage and grid infrastructure.
Moreover, 65 % of all electricity fed into the German grid (that is, public net electricity generation) in the first six months of 2024 came from renewable energy sources, preliminary figures from the Fraunhofer Institute show. This is higher than the BDEW and ZSW’s numbers as it only accounts for consumer supply and does not include power directly generated for industry, which still relies on oil and gas to a great extent. The Fraunhofer Institute’s figures show fossil-fuel generation falling 15 %. Generation from lignite fell by 25 % – yet it remains the country’s second largest power source after wind, at 21 %. Wind accounted for 34 % of Germany’s public net electricity generation, with 15 % coming from solar installations, the Fraunhoer Institute said.
Germany is aiming for 80 percent renewable power in its gross electricity consumption by 2030, with wind considered the most important source.
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