The National Wealth Fund (NWF) has unveiled a plan that it says could drive £100 billion in UK clean energy investments.
The new strategic plan will prioritise battery manufacturing and energy storage, power grids and carbon capture projects, among other sectors, to deploy the Fund’s remaining £19.4 billion of capital over the next five years.
The NWF—an operationally independent arm of the Treasury—said it expects to have the most impact in tenkey sectors: ports and supply chains, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, battery and EV manufacturing, steel, power grids, energy storage, nuclear power, transport infrastructure and “place-based regeneration”.
Of these, it said it would aim to commit £5.8 billion to ports and supply chains, carbon capture, hydrogen, battery and EV manufacturing and steel by 2030-31. The NWF also outlined 15 other sectors for strategic investment, including solar energy, critical minerals, offshore wind and AI.
The £100 billion investment figure the NWF has forecast comprises its core capital commitments and its commitment to the Sizewell C nuclear plant, alongside private finance it expects to mobilise in the next five years. Beyond financing figures, the Fund said it expects to create and support “more than 200,000 jobs” across the economy
Oliver Holbourn, National Wealth Fund CEO, said: “This is an exciting new chapter for the National Wealth Fund as we look to unlock the UK’s future. We will be going further and faster to drive more than £100 billion into the economy, fully deploying our capital over the next five years to help drive economic growth”.
The NWF’s approach to renewables and grid investments will focus on opportunities for debt and guarantee financing. In the solar sector, NWF investments will focus on large-scale projects and corporate power purchase agreements (PPA), which it said will be shaped by the government’s Solar Roadmap and Contracts for Difference (CfD) schemes.
For energy storage, the NWF’s plan says it will consider certain equity investments to aid shortlisted long-duration energy storage (LDES) projects through the Cap and Floor scheme.
Since its foundation, the NWF has already made significant investments into UK clean energy. In August, it was part of a consortium that committed £500 million to a 300MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) portfolio and earlier last year it committed £600 million to aid in electricity grid upgrades. This was provided to Spanish energy major Iberdrola, which owns grid operator ScottishPower.
This new plan marks a step change in clean energy investment from the NWF compared with these previous plans.
“Clean energy is not just about energy sovereignty; it is about bringing back the good industrial jobs that have been denied to our country for too long,” said energy secretary Ed Miliband. “Thanks to the certainty of the government's clean energy superpower mission and public investment like this—the industry is responding with record investment—meaning better jobs for people across our country."
