GB Energy targets fifteen gigawatts of clean power by 2030

• The UK’s new state-owned GB Energy wants to help deliver 15 GW of clean capacity by 2030, mobilising billions in private capital.

The UK is adding a new tool to its energy kit: GB Energy, a state-owned company tasked with catalysing clean power and unlocking private investment. Its headline goal—help deliver 15 GW of capacity by 2030—sounds ambitious because it is. The approach is pragmatic: use public balance-sheet strength to derisk projects, standardise contracts, and move stubborn bottlenecks like grid connections and supply-chain timing.

What might that look like in practice? Co-investments in shovel-ready solar and onshore wind; support for storage tolling agreements that give batteries bankable cash flows; and targeted backing for grid-forming inverters and synchronous condensers that help the system run with fewer gas plants online. GB Energy can also champion “boring but vital” fixes: data transparency on queues, templated community benefit packages, and recycling pathways that lenders now demand.

Crucially, the remit isn’t to crowd out the private sector—it’s to crowd it in. Every pound of public risk capital should aim to mobilise several pounds of private finance from pension funds and insurers. That is how you move from announcements to CODs.

The politics of a state-owned player will attract scrutiny, and success will hinge on governance: clear mandates, independent oversight, and discipline about where public money is truly catalytic. If GB Energy sticks to that brief, the UK can convert stalled pipelines into electrons—faster connections, more evening flexibility, and a gentler glide path for retiring thermal plants.