Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Energy Security, is meeting with energy industry leaders to establish plans to invest in energy security and employment.
A wide range of UK energy companies, including EDF, SSE, BP and Shell, are meeting with Shapps today, as part of discussions over plans to invest a collective £100 billion in the creation of jobs around the country, as well as boosting energy security. So far, plans are to do this through low and zero-carbon projects, each of which will support thousands of employment opportunities whilst also reducing household bills and delivering a cleaner, more secure source of energy. The ambition driving these plans will aim to ensure that the UK has the lowest wholesale electricity prices in Europe by 2035.
In the discussions, the Energy Security Secretary will lay out the ways that the government is planning on protecting UK energy supplies from foreign and domestic disruptions. One of the highlights of this will be the decisions made earlier this week, around the investment in home-grown energy courses and the support for North Sea oil and gas.
Alongside government plans to support UK energy projects, firms have demonstrated their confidence in decisions to invest in the energy system over the course of the next decade. This includes plans for tens of billions of pounds worth of investments, such as:
- Shell UK is planning on investing £20-£25 billion in the UK’s energy system over the next decade, with more than three quarters of this being intended for low and zero-carbon products and services.
- BP is aiming to invest up to £18 billion in the UK up to the end of 2030.
- SSE plc are planning to invest £18 billion up to 2027 in the development of low-carbon infrastructure, seeing the creation of 1,000 new jobs every year up to 20205. Wider plans could see the company investing up to £40 billion across the course of the next 10 years.
- National Grid is investing more than £16 billion in the five-year period up to 2026.
- Up to 2025, EDF have plans to invest £13 billion.
- RWE are looking to invest up to £15 billion in the UK’s clean energy infrastructure by 2030.
The Energy Security Secretary said:
“We need to send the message loud and clear to the likes of Putin that we will never again be held to ransom with energy supply. The companies I am meeting in Downing Street will be at the heart of that.
“Energy industry leaders can see that this government will back home-grown, secure energy – whether that’s renewables, our revival in nuclear, or our support for our vital oil and gas industry in the North Sea.
“But it is a sad reality that we also need to protect our critical national infrastructure from disruptive protests. Today I’ll be setting out what we are doing to achieve this and want to hear from the energy companies the vital work they are doing in this area.”
