What does it mean for Scotland and Aberdeen?

The UK government has confirmed Aberdeen will be the headquarters of the new state-owned energy company.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has told the Liverpool Labour Party conference that big British energy companies will be based in Liverpool.

The project will not provide electricity to homes, but will help finance new and existing clean technology and small and medium-sized renewable energy projects.

The British government had been criticised for delaying announcing the company would be based in Aberdeen, but Sir Keir said it would be led by the “talents and skills of the working people of the Granite City”.

Great British Energy was one of Labour’s key election promises and had always planned to have its headquarters in Scotland.

BBC Scotland News Earlier this month, it was revealed The company has decided to locate its headquarters in the oil and gas capital of the United Kingdom.

Chairman Juergen Maier has now confirmed that the company will also operate plants in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

But there has been some confusion about the commission’s exact purpose, forcing Labour to clarify its role during the campaign.

Tuesday’s announcement means industry and consumers are one step closer to understanding what the introduction of the bill will mean for the UK’s energy future.

Ed Miliband, the UK’s secretary of state for energy security and net zero emissions, said the company would help “make the UK a clean energy superpower, fully decarbonising our electricity system by 2030”.

He described British Energy as “a new national champion that enables us to enjoy Britain’s rich natural resources, deliver clean energy projects in communities across the country, create the next generation of good jobs and re-industrialise Britain.”

The government announced five key functions of the company:

• Project Development – ​​Leading projects through the development phase, accelerating their delivery while creating more value for the UK public
• Project investment – ​​co-investing with the private sector in energy projects to help them get off the ground
• Local Electricity Scheme – supporting local energy generation projects by working with local authorities, combined authorities and communities
• Supply Chain – Building supply chains across the UK, increasing energy independence and creating jobs
• UK Nuclear – exploring how UK Energy and UK Nuclear can work together, including considering how UK Nuclear’s operations fit within UK Energy.

It is Founding Declaration “British Big Energy will own, manage and operate clean energy projects,” the company said. “It will be a company that produces its own energy and works with the private sector for the benefit of the country.”

GB Energy has entered into a partnership with The Crown Estate, the statutory corporation responsible for managing the £16 billion of land and seabed assets owned by the British monarch.

The government believes this will shorten the long time currently taken to build large infrastructure projects such as wind farms and transmission lines.

The Crown Estate estimates that the partnership could bring up to 20-30 GW of offshore wind development into subsea leases by 2030, enough to power nearly 20 million homes.

Ministers also claimed the deal “has the potential to attract up to £60 billion of private investment towards the UK’s energy independence efforts”.

The government has pledged to invest £8.3bn of new money in the company during this Parliament.

The amount is expected to be raised through a windfall profits tax on oil and gas companies.

The party has previously said it would not issue new oil and gas licenses, but has also said it would not overturn existing licenses.

The company will operate independently and any profits will be reinvested, meaning it will become self-funding as soon as possible.

The Prime Minister hailed the confirmation that Aberdeen would be the home of GB Energy’s headquarters during a speech in Liverpool.

“We say GB Energy, as our national champion, is the company that drives our clean energy mission, and we say it belongs to Scotland, and it does,” he said.

“But the fact is it can only be based in one place in Scotland.

“So today, I can confirm that the UK’s energy future will be powered, as it has been for decades, by the talent and skills of working people in the Granite City and GB Energy in Aberdeen.”

It ends months of speculation, though debate has centered on what it means for jobs and infrastructure in the city, which is facing a tricky transition from oil and gas to renewable energy.

The SNP and Conservatives claim Labour’s oil and gas licensing policy could put up to 100,000 jobs at risk.

However, industry estimates put the total number of Scottish jobs dependent on the sector at 60,000.

Tuesday’s announcement did not provide further details on how many jobs GB Energy will create.

Responding to the news, Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said the move would ensure the North East remains the “global energy capital” for decades to come.

He said: “We have over a thousand energy supply chain companies and the majority of energy workers are ready to help the UK transition to net zero emissions.”

“With existing talent, skills, strategic infrastructure and a pipeline of future projects, North East Scotland is well positioned to lead the way.

“However, we do not need to eliminate one industry to develop another – in fact, it is quite the opposite, one cannot exist without the other.

“We therefore urge the UK government to use next month’s Budget to restore confidence in the North Sea to protect the jobs, supply chains and energy production we need to ensure a just transition,” he added.

GB Energy will not immediately reduce consumers’ bills as global energy markets continue to deal with issues arising from the war in Ukraine.

The decision to limit winter fuel subsidies puts Labour in tricky territory.

But ministers are keen to stress this is the first step in transforming the way the UK procures, manages and modernises energy.

To succeed, UK energy companies must transform the oil and gas industry to renewable energy, redesign the way the electricity grid operates to deliver green energy directly to homes and end the UK’s reliance on foreign energy.

Ed Miliband once said: “In this unstable world, the only way to guarantee our energy security and permanently protect taxpayers is to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to home-grown clean energy.”

Gas and electricity prices in England, Scotland and Wales will rise by 10% from October.

Under the new energy price cap, dual fuel costs paid by direct debit would typically be £1,717 a year.

Meanwhile, more than 10 million pensioners will no longer receive the winter fuel grant to help them pay their electricity bills during the coldest time of the year.