RACHEL Reeves has set out plans to invest billions in high-risk projects to make the UK a world leader in green technology as she pledged to go “further and faster” to deliver growth.
The chancellor said that she wanted to “start getting money out of the door” with proposals to invest £7.3billion in projects ranging from green steel and hydrogen to capturing carbon and storing it in the North Sea.
The announcement came as Energy Secretary Ed Miliband added two Scots – Chris Stark and Michael Shanks – to his top team and charged them with accelerating the UK to clean power by 2030.
Ms Reeves said the money will be specifically targeted at nascent technologies or projects at early stages of development that “enable and encourage” risk taking.
A report, published alongside the announcement, said some of the projects would not otherwise attract funding because they were “unproven at commercial scale” or had a high risk of “cost overruns and construction delays”.
Among the early sectors to be targeted will be industrial decarbonisation, producing commercially viable green hydrogen and supporting new gigafactories. Ministers will not be involved in the investment decisions, which will be channelled through the UK Infrastructure Bank.
The new National Wealth Fund will aim to bring in £3 of private sector investment for every £1 of taxpayer funding. The fund was a key commitment in Labour’s manifesto but has been redefined after a report led by Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England and CS Venkatakrishnan, the chief executive of Barclays.
Meanwhile, Chris Stark, former chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, will take charge of the UK Government’s newly announced Mission Control.
This initiative will act as a “control centre to turbocharge the government’s mission to provide Britain with cheaper and clean power by 2030,” a government statement said.
Mission Control will have a “relentless” focus on cutting emissions and will work with the regulator Ofgem, the National Grid and the Electricity System Operator.
Alongside its industry partners, Mission Control will focus on overcoming the obstacles facing green energy developers in the UK.
The government has said this will speed up the connection of new power infrastructure to the grid.
Currently, this is an issue facing the sector as grid connection waiting times can be as long as 15 years in the UK.
Michael Shanks, the Rutherglen MP, has been confirmed in a junior role in the Department for Energy and Net Zero, which will produce policies that have a large impact on Scotland’s economy.
He is expected to have a large say in GB Energy, the planned publicly owned energy company which will be headquartered in Scotland.