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Great British Energy’s big mission and modest budget

Great British Energy (GBE) is the UK’s new publicly owned energy company, created to accelerate the transition to clean power, cut bills, enhance energy security, and create jobs. Its mission is to act as a strategic developer, investor, and owner of clean energy projects.

GBE is Britain’s answer to EDF in France and Vattenfall in Sweden. These two successful government-owned energy giants dominate their national energy sectors by owning and operating key clean energy assets.

Unfortunately, the government has allocated only £5.8 billion for GBE to achieve its mission. That may sound substantial, but it pales in comparison with the £40 billion price tag for each of the UK’s two new nuclear plants, and it is tiny compared with EDF’s £300 billion of assets.

This guide explains what GBE is, the scale of its ambitions, its funding, and the strategic investments it plans to make. Here’s what we cover:

• What is Great British Energy?
• Great British Energy funding
• Great British Energy’s goals
• Investment to unblock supply chain constraints
• Developing clean energy deployment as investor, co-investor or partner
• Leading development of nascent clean energy generation assets
• Criticism of Great British Energy

What is Great British Energy?

Great British Energy was a flagship pledge of the Labour Party during the 2024 general election, which promised the creation of a publicly owned energy company to drive the country towards the goal of decarbonising the national grid by 2030.

Great British Energy will not operate as a domestic or business energy supplier; instead, it will make strategic investments in energy infrastructure and related supply chains.

Here, we summarise how GBE was founded, its ownership structure, and its key leaders.

Who founded Great British Energy?

Following the Labour Party’s election, the Great British Energy Act 2025 was introduced to Parliament and received Royal Assent in May 2025.

This Act of Parliament formally established GBE as a company, set out its legal powers, and defined its governance structure.

Ownership of Great British Energy

Great British Energy is a publicly owned energy company. It operates as a limited company under the name Great British Energy Group Limited.

According to the latest Companies House filings, Great British Energy Group Limited is wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Great British Energy leadership

Although Great British Energy is government-owned, it is overseen by an independent board of directors.

The Chair of GBE, Juergen Maier, was formerly the CEO of Siemens UK, a major manufacturer of offshore wind turbines and blades. The other non-executive directors include former leaders of power grid companies, hydropower associations, and trade unions.

The day-to-day management of GBE is led by Dan McGrail, formerly the Chief Executive of RenewableUK, a trade association.

Great British Energy funding

The UK Government initially committed £8.3 billion of funding for GBE over the current Parliament.

The money set aside for GBE is not being raised through a dedicated tax or any levy on domestic or business electricity bills; instead, it is financed through additional government borrowing.

In June 2025, the Government announced that £2.5 billion of GBE’s funding had been reallocated to develop small modular nuclear reactors, under a similarly named government agency called Great British Nuclear, which was established in 2023.

The Government has tasked GBE intending to become self-sustaining by 2030, the end of the current Parliament. This means that it should not expect further funds once the remaining £5.8 billion has run out. From that date, it is expected to continue its activities funded by the financial returns generated from its investments.

To provide context on the level of funding available to GBE, here is how the £5.8 billion compares with specific aspects of the British energy industry:

Great British Energy’s goals

In September 2025, Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally published the strategic priorities of Great British Energy. The two core strategic objectives set for Great British Energy are:

• Drive clean energy deployment across the whole of the UK as a strategic developer, investor, and owner of clean energy projects.
• Ensure that UK taxpayers, bill payers, communities, and the energy workforce benefit from the deployment of clean energy.

Since GBE has only £5.8 billion to achieve its goals, it cannot simply develop its own large-scale renewable projects.

Instead, GBE must be highly strategic in the investments it makes. In the next sections, we will explore the three distinct ways Great British Energy is expected to use its budget to meet these objectives:

• Investment to unblock supply chain constraints
• Developing clean energy deployment as a co-investor
• Leading development of nascent clean energy generation assets

Investment to unblock supply chain constraints

Great British Energy will invest in supply chains that support the development of clean energy projects.

One of the major obstacles to the deployment of large-scale renewables has been shortages, delays, and rising costs in securing the parts and equipment necessary for their construction.

Here are three key examples of supply chain constraints currently affecting Britain’s renewable energy industry, along with GBE’s expected approach to alleviating these issues.

Wind turbine manufacturing capacity

The UK is a global leader in offshore wind, with developments underway such as the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in the North Sea, which will be the world’s largest wind farm.

However, these projects require the purchase of high-voltage cables, transformers, towers, and turbine blades, none of which are manufactured at scale in the UK. Wind farm developers instead purchase these parts on a competitive global market.

Offshore wind developers such as SSE have previously reported lead times of three to five years for purchasing the transformers they require. In May 2025, Ørsted announced the cancellation of the Hornsea 4 wind farm due to rising supply chain costs.

Specialist installation vessels

Modern offshore wind turbines are over 200 metres tall and require specialist installation vessels to place turbines on their foundations.

The problem is that there are only a limited number of these vessels globally, and a growing number of countries are competing to construct offshore wind projects.

The scarcity of these vessels has led to significant increases in waiting times and rental costs, making private investment in offshore wind projects less viable.

Grid-scale transformers and switch gear

The private companies that operate the regional power grids in Britain, known as distribution network operators, are reporting waiting times of two to three years to purchase transformers required to expand their networks and connect new renewable projects.

This delay means that willing investors in solar farms and energy storage projects must wait years before they can begin operations. Large businesses wishing to install commercial solar panels face the same delays.

Strategic supply chain investments

To alleviate supply chain problems, Great British Energy is expected to co-invest in domestic manufacturing capacity, reducing reliance on global markets.

The investment GBE can provide alongside private investors will encourage firms to expand manufacturing capacity in the UK.

As a developer and owner of generation projects, Great British Energy will be able to commit to long-term purchase agreements with these UK manufacturers, giving them the confidence to grow their businesses.

These investments in UK supply chains will also help GBE achieve its secondary mission of bolstering the domestic energy workforce, creating high-skilled jobs in the UK’s industrial heartlands such as Aberdeen, Humberside, and Teesside.

Developing clean energy deployment as an investor, co-investor or partner

The limited budget of Great British Energy means that it is unlikely to invest directly in large-scale renewable energy projects, but will instead make strategic investments in smaller, local projects.

Here are two key examples of investments GBE is already pursuing.

Renewable energy generation in public buildings

One opportunity already identified and acted upon by Great British Energy is the installation of commercial solar panels on the roofs of public buildings.

In March 2025, Great British Energy announced a £180 million investment to deploy solar panels on unused roof space at schools and NHS sites.

GBE stated that the investment would generate a return of investment on the solar panels of £400 million over 30 years and would help these public organisations offset rising energy bills. Schools and hospitals pay for their power under Ofgem’s non-domestic rules, so they are suffering from the same rising business electricity prices as British businesses.

GBE’s local investment also benefits the national grid by increasing the amount of locally generated renewable power and reducing the strain on the grid, which is already struggling to incorporate electricity from distant offshore wind farms.

Local community projects

A key part of GBE’s investment strategy is to co-invest in renewable energy schemes that are initiated and owned by local groups, rather than solely by private developers or large utility companies.

In local schemes, GBE intends to co-fund projects that lack the capital to invest in renewables. These investments are likely to target deprived areas where the social impact will be greatest.

In July 2025, GBE announced its first investments in community-led projects by providing a £10 million grant to support libraries, fire stations, and care homes. The approved projects include solar panels, solar batteries, and EV chargers.

Leading the development of nascent clean energy generation assets

GBE’s strategic priorities document states that it should support the development of renewable technologies that have demonstrated their effectiveness through a prototype and are now ready to progress to full commercial deployment.

Although GBE has yet to announce any early-stage investments, potential technologies in this category include:

• Floating offshore wind – Proven with small-scale projects but requiring scale-up for full commercialisation.
• Tidal stream energy – Demonstrated with small-scale projects in Orkney and Shetland, but still needing scale-up to become commercially viable.
• Grid-scale energy storage – Large-scale batteries that are beginning to be deployed across Britain to help balance intermittent renewable power generation.

Although investment in these early-stage technologies is unlikely to yield significant financial returns for GBE, it will help the UK gain a competitive advantage in scaling up these promising solutions.

Timeline and key milestones of Great British Energy

The timetable below sets out the key dates in the creation of Great British Energy, as well as the future milestones established by the UK Government.

Great British Energy’s impact on markets and climate goals

The UK wholesale electricity market has been dominated by private developers and utilities since deregulation in the 1980s.

GBE reintroduces a state-owned investor and developer to this competitive market, aiming to steer it towards the UK’s broader climate goals. It is expected to have the following impacts on the market:

• Derisking private investment – By acting as a willing co-investor in higher-risk energy projects, GBE will reduce the perceived risk for private investors such as banks and pension funds. This, in turn, will accelerate investment in renewable projects.
• Building domestic supply chains – GBE will channel its funding into UK-based manufacturing. Over time, this will strengthen the UK’s industrial base and create a stable, long-term supply of affordable energy for private renewable investors.
• Accelerating emerging technologies – GBE’s financial backing of higher-risk early-stage renewable technologies will, if successful, enable these solutions to become part of the UK’s energy mix.

It is worth noting that, although GBE represents a new chapter in public ownership of energy infrastructure, it is not the only government intervention in this market. Initiatives such as Contracts for Difference, Renewable Obligation, and the Green Gas Support Scheme already provide effective subsidies for the development of large-scale renewables.

Criticism of Great British Energy

Polling firm YouGov reports that a large majority of Britons support the nationalisation of utilities, including energy infrastructure. Since Great British Energy is a small step in this direction, it has been widely welcomed.

However, several notable criticisms of GBE have been raised by industry groups, think tanks, and opposition parties. Here is a summary of the two key points of contention.

Delivery and capacity

As GBE is not expected to publish its formal plan until spring 2026, some observers worry that it will become another example of a public bureaucratic organisation that is too slow and underfunded to make an impact.

Critics question whether GBE will be able to add much beyond what the private sector already provides, or the work of existing organisations such as the UK Infrastructure Bank or the National Wealth Fund.

This concern has been heightened by the Government’s decision to reallocate £2.5 billion of GBE’s funding to develop small-scale nuclear power stations.

Real impact on bills

The Labour Party has promoted the idea that public ownership of energy assets through GBE will reduce the cost of energy bills.

GBE’s investments will increase renewable energy capacity in the UK, which should put downward pressure on wholesale prices, as renewables have a near-zero marginal cost.

However, because the projects GBE is expected to invest in will take years to develop, industry critics argue that unless there are significant changes in the wholesale gas market, energy costs are likely to remain high and largely unaffected by GBE in the short term.

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