Aberdeen confirmed as home to Great British Energy HQ

The Prime Minister yesterday confirmed that the headquarters of Great British Energy will be situated in Aberdeen, with two smaller sites in Edinburgh and Glasgow, to expand the benefits of the project across Scotland

Great British Energy will be a publicly-owned energy company, designed to drive clean energy deployment, boost energy independence, create jobs.

Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘We said GB Energy — our publicly owned national champion, the vehicle that will drive forward our mission on clean energy — we said it belonged in Scotland. And it does. But the truth is it could only really ever be based in one place in Scotland. So today, 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.’

Great British Energy, which is backed by £8.3 billion of public money, aims to drive up the number of green projects, including wind and solar and carbon capture. It will have five key functions

• Project development – leading projects through development stages to speed up their delivery, whilst capturing more value for the British public
• Project investment – investing in energy projects alongside the private sector, helping get them off the ground
• Local Power Plan – supporting local energy generation projects through working with local authorities, combined authorities and communities
• Supply chains – building supply chains across the UK, boosting energy independence and creating jobs
• Great British Nuclear – exploring how Great British Energy and Great British Nuclear will work together, including considering how Great British Nuclear functions will fit with Great British Energy

The additional sites in Edinburgh and Glasgow will be located in government buildings across the cities, while permanent bases are established.

An interim Chief Executive will soon to be appointed to take the lead on launching the new company and building its Aberdeen base – along with the start-up Chair Juergen Maier, former CEO of Siemens UK.

Maier said yesterday: ‘We will use this base to rapidly scale up this publicly owned, operationally independent company and start to engage with investors and communities and build supply chains across the UK’

Jean Morrison, chair of Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group said: ‘We greatly welcome today’s announcement that Aberdeen will be the headquarters of GB Energy.

‘Aberdeen’s proximity to many of the offshore wind farms that secured licenses and support as part of the ScotWind leasing round and recent AR6 auction, in addition to other renewable energy initiatives, including the Acorn project and the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub, make the city ideally located as the headquarters of GB Energy.’