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GB Energy, the government’s clean energy firm, will be based in Aberdeen in a boost for the Scottish city that has fallen on tougher times as the North Sea oil and gas basin declines.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer made the much-anticipated announcement during his speech to the annual Labour party conference on Tuesday.
The government had promised to base the new state-owned vehicle in Scotland but had not confirmed which city it would be in. Other mooted locations included Glasgow and Edinburgh.
“The truth is it could only really ever be based in one place in Scotland,” he said. “I can confirm that the future of British energy will be powered as it has been for decades by the talent and skills of the working people in the ‘Granite City’ — with GB Energy based in Aberdeen.”
Basing GB Energy in Scotland was a centrepiece of the party’s offer to Scottish voters. Labour made strong gains north of the border in the general election on July 4, dealing a blow to the Scottish National party.
Industry leaders in Aberdeen, the heart of Scotland’s oil and gas sector, fear thousands of jobs are threatened by Labour’s pledge to stop issuing new licences for fossil fuels exploration in the North Sea, raising windfall taxes and ending investment allowances.
The energy industry argues these measures will create a cliff edge for the sector by accelerating the decline of North Sea production, causing more job losses than necessary and denuding the country of the expertise needed to advance the renewable industry.
Andrew Bowie, Scottish Conservative MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, said he welcomed the news but added: “Basing GB Energy in Aberdeen will in no way make up for the thousands of jobs that will be lost in the North Sea as a result of Labour’s dreadful policies on oil and gas.”
GB Energy, chaired by former Siemens UK chief executive Juergen Maier, aims to co-invest in new low-carbon technologies, accelerate wind, solar and nuclear power, and scale up local energy projects. With £8.3bn to deploy over five years, it hopes to create 650,000 jobs.
The firm is expected to work closely with Chris Stark, a former Scottish government official who led the UK’s Climate Change Committee and now heads up a unit overseeing the delivery of clean power by 2030.
John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, invited Maier and Stark to address the Scottish government’s energy advisory board last week, as London and Edinburgh seek closer co-operation on delivering renewable energy to meet ambitious emissions reduction targets.
A bill legislating to set up the firm is expected in the new year.
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