GB Energyboard still considering ‘right places to go’
Leadership from the government’spublicly-owned energy company Great British Energy will come to market in the nextfew months with a “precise set” of areas it will be involved in.
That is according to Dan McGrail, interim CEO of GB Energy, who saidthat the company needs to identify the “right places to go”. Speaking atInnovation Zero earlier this week, McGrail explained that GB Energy will focuson areas of high ambition with a low-risk appetite.
He conceded that there has been “a lot to do”to set up the new company, fundamentally around strategy. Through the time thatGB Energy has been in discussion, its proposed remit and responsibilities havechanged.
Almost a year into the current government’sterm, the company has pledged solar investment, followedby a £300 million investment for offshore wind,as well as various partnerships to help it ownand develop renewable energy projects, as a tool to encourage private investment.
McGrail said another ‘bucket’ in GB Energy’sdomain will be to scale community and public sector renewable energy generationprojects, perhaps also enabling use of public land for projects.
The company will also co-invest to supportdomestic supply chains, although McGrail said all of these things are examplesand not a finite list.
Pushed on the recent announcement that GBEnergy will ensure its solar supply chain is slavery-free, McGrail explainedthat as a publicly-owned company, the commitment is about “always aspiring tomeet the gold standard across all areas of best practice”.
UK law already prohibits modern slavery, andthe GB Energy promise is not legally binding.
McGrail evaded a question about whether GBEnergy will help to establish manufacturing in the UK, stating instead that itwill enter development stage projects, taking a minority stake, with thelonger-term aspiration of developing its own projects.
He added that there has been a “surprising”appetite from the private sector to co-invest with GB Energy.