PS25123 - RAF003/2526 - Great British Energy – Employment Impact Assessment Framework

Policy Background

Backed by a capitalisation of £8.3bn over this Parliament, Great British Energy (GBE) is a publicly owned energy company with a mission to drive clean energy deployment, create jobs, boost energy independence, and ensure UK taxpayers, billpayers and communities reap the benefits of clean, secure, homegrown energy. To deliver this, GBE will: 1) strategically develop, invest in and ultimately own clean energy assets, 2) support local and community energy generation, and 3) facilitate the growth of supply chains across the UK. Through its ownership stakes and the wider support, it provides, GBE will ensure that the public benefits from the energy transition by increasing public and community ownership of assets, providing community benefits, creating jobs, and ensuring that the energy mix delivers value for consumers.

GBE will achieve these objectives through its role across project development, investment, and ownership, local and community energy, and supply chains:

• Project investment and development: GBE will support projects at all stages of their life cycle - from early development through to successful operation. GBE’s capital and expertise will drive forward clean energy generation by derisking projects across their lifecycle, particularly at the development stage. It is envisaged that GBE’s development activities will involve leading the development of clean energy assets from inception and owning these assets for the taxpayer over the long term; co-developing projects with partners, through equity stakes and joint ventures; and investing in more developed projects that are entering construction or are already in operation.
• Local and community energy: Great British Energy will ensure that communities own and benefit from clean power projects to develop local and community energy projects.
• Supply chains – Great British Energy will help drive the growth of domestic manufacturing and supply chains.

GBE is one of the Government's “first steps for change” and part of the Clean Energy Superpower Mission which involves achieving Clean Power by 2030 (ensuring at least 95% of energy generation is from clean energy sources in the UK) and accelerating to Net Zero by 2050. Significant progress has already been made in decarbonising the UK power system. However, the deployment of new clean energy capacity across the whole of the UK needs to be rapidly accelerated. The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sets out the significant amount of additional GW capacity we need from different technologies to deliver clean power by 2030. Looking further ahead, the delivery of Net Zero by 2050 will require the continued accelerated deployment of clean energy capacity after 2030 as total annual electricity demand is likely to at least double by 2050.

While the primary aims of GBE is to accelerate clean energy deployment and support the delivery of the Clean Energy Superpower Mission, we expect investment and development of clean energy infrastructure projects, and systems, as well as support for the broader supply chain that supports clean energy projects, to deliver economic impacts across the whole of the UK. The focus of this research is to unpack the potential jobs and employment impacts of GBE’s activities, as a lever, for economic impact.