The National Wealth Fund will focus on clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital technologies and transport.
Money will be invested across the United Kingdom in projects like carbon capture, green hydrogen, gigafactories, green steel, and ports.
The UK Government said the move would help direct investment to the industries that the defence sector relies on – advanced manufacturing and digital and dual-use technologies.
The National Wealth Fund’s economic capital limit will also be increased from £4.5 billion to £7 billion, allowing it take on greater risk. This means it has more flexibility over its investments and can support more projects that struggle to access private finance.
A recruitment campaign has also launched for the National Wealth Fund’s next CEO.
John Flint will step down from the role of CEO in the summer after successfully seeing through the National Wealth Fund’s transition from the UK Infrastructure Bank.
The Chancellor will also establish a new UK Strategic Public Investment Forum joining up the UK’s leading policymakers and public financial institutions including the CEOs of the National Wealth Fund, British Business Bank, UK Export Finance, Homes England, Innovate UK, and Great British Energy and The Crown Estate.
The forum – the first of its kind – will cooperate on delivering investments to the priority areas set out by the Chancellor and will be tasked with ensuring the Government is getting maximum impact for its investments.
Stemming from this, the National Wealth Fund will work closely with Great British Energy to support its quick establishment as a publicly owned clean energy company.
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, said:
“Clean power is the economic opportunity of the 21st century – and through the National Wealth Fund we will seize this opportunity to invest in British industries and workers.”
More details on Great British Energy’s developer mandate have also been released.
The partnership between Great British Energy and the National Wealth Fund will see the former bringing project development expertise as well as investment, and the latter providing finance, a model already being deployed in Japan and Denmark.
