Aberdeen announced as home of GB Energy

Aberdeen has been named as the new headquarters of Great British Energy.

GB Energy is one of the government's key energy pledges from the general election and they plan to invest £8.3 billion of funding into the publicly owned green power company.

As the location of the new headquarters, Aberdeen will be at the heart of the company’s plans to scale up clean homegrown power to boost energy independence, create skilled jobs across the UK and to support economic growth.

Two additional sites will open in Edinburgh and Glasgow, once GB Energy is up and running, to benefit from local skills and expertise. The company will be initially located in government buildings across the cities, while permanent bases are established.

An interim chief executive will soon to be appointed to take the lead on launching the new company and building its Aberdeen base - along with the start-up Chair Juergen Maier, former CEO of Siemens UK.

Within the first weeks of the new government, energy secretary Ed Miliband took action to introduce the  GB Energy Bill to Parliament and confirm a new partnership with The Crown Estate, to help accelerate new offshore wind farms. 

The move forms part of the government’s plans to support clean energy in the North Sea, ensuring Aberdeen continues to thrive as Scotland’s clean energy capital. 

The government recently announced the biggest ever investment in offshore wind and continues to progress technologies like carbon capture and storage and hydrogen - as well as ensuring that oil and gas is used for decades to come as part of a fair and balanced transition away from fossil fuels.