Under the UK Government’s Plan for Change, the Energy Secretary has announced the first major project for Great British Energy. Working with schools, the NHS and local governments to install solar panels and build local clean power projects, thereby delivering lower energy bills.
Across England around £80 million in funding will support around 200 schools, alongside £100 million for nearly 200 NHS sites, covering a third of NHS trusts, to install rooftop solar panels that could power classrooms and operations, with potential to sell leftover energy back to the grid. The first panels are expected to be in schools and hospitals by the end of summer 2025, saving schools money for the next academic year.
Schools and hospitals have been hit with rocketing energy bills in recent years, costing taxpayers millions of pounds, and eating into school budgets. This has been driven by the UK’s dependency on global fossil fuel markets. The NHS is the single biggest public sector energy user, with an estimated annual energy bill of £1.4 billion, that has more than doubled since 2019.
Great British Energy’s first investment could see millions invested back into frontline services, targeting deprived areas, with lifetime savings for schools and the NHS of up to £400 million over around 30 years.
Estimates suggest that on average, a typical school could save up to £25,000 per year, whilst the average NHS site could save up to £45,000 per year on their annual energy bill if they had solar panels with complementary technologies installed such as batteries.
In addition, local authorities and community energy groups will also be supported by nearly £12 million to help build local clean energy projects - from community-led onshore wind, to solar on rooftops and hydropower in rivers – that can help drive growth. These could generate profits which could then be reinvested into community projects or take money off people’s bills. A further £9.3 million will power schemes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland including community energy or rooftop solar for public buildings.
“Right now, money that should be spent on your children’s education or your family’s healthcare is instead being wasted on sky-high energy bills” said UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. “Great British Energy’s first major project will be to help our vital public institutions save hundreds of millions on bills to reinvest on the frontline. Great British Energy will provide power for pupils and patients. Parents at the school gate and patients in hospitals will experience the difference Great British Energy can make. This is our clean energy superpower mission in action, with lower bills and energy security for our country.”
However, the government’s plans have met with some limited criticism:
“GB Energy’s announcement of £180 million in investment for solar panels at schools and hospitals across the UK is very welcome news, but it’s only a tiny drop in the ocean” said Christophe Williams of Naked Energy. “The public sector really needs to be at the forefront of the energy transition. However, GB Energy needs to set its sights on decarbonising heat as well. It accounts for 37 percent of the UK’s total carbon emissions, with space heating making up 17 percent and industrial heat 14 percent. It is well-documented that the National Grid struggles to keep up with the electrification of everything. The consequences of this are companies and renewable energy projects queuing to be connected to the grid, and simultaneously postponing progress to reach net zero. Fortunately, there are plenty of UK businesses developing innovative and efficient grid-edge solutions to decarbonise commercial and industrial heat that don’t rely on the National Grid. The energy transition can be a success if homegrown technology and talent is used efficiently. The transition to net zero is the biggest economic opportunity of our lifetimes and provides an ideal backdrop for the government to invest into ‘Made in the UK’.”
Currently only about 20 percent of schools and under 10 percent of hospitals have solar panels installed, but the government believes that the technology has huge potential to save money on bills. For example, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust installed a solar canopy over the car park at its Wharfedale Hospital site that will reduce carbon emissions by 43.7 tonnes per year and save the trust £75,000 annually.
A large project at Hull University Teaching Hospital has 11,000 solar panels which saved it around £250,000 a month last summer. The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust’s new solar farm at a former landfill site is expected to power the entire hospital site with self-generated renewable energy for around 288 days a year - saving around £15-20 million over the next 2 decades.
The support will target schools and hospitals with buildings that are able to accommodate solar panels in areas of England most in need. As part of this, government will select the schools which will be primarily clustered in areas of deprivation in the North East, West Midlands and North West, as well as at least 10 schools in each region. Each cluster will include a further education college which will work with the contractors appointed to promote careers in renewables to support growth in the construction and renewables workforce. This could be through work placements, skills bootcamps and workshops.
Alongside this, the NHS ran an expression of interest process to identify the selected hospital sites, with installations managed by the NHS.
The funding will support the government’s clean power mission as well as helping to rebuild the nation’s public services. It forms Great British Energy’s first local investment, kickstarting the Local Power Plan and ensuring the benefits of this national mission are felt at a local level, with energy security, good jobs and economic growth.
Supported by £8.3 billion over this Parliament, Great British Energy will own and invest in clean energy projects across the UK. This will range from supporting local energy - like the solar power schemes recently announced - to unlocking significant investment in major clean energy projects that will revitalise the UK’s industrial heartlands with new jobs, alongside securing Britain’s energy supply.
The government and Great British Energy are also providing funding to kick start Great British Energy’s support for community energy projects. Community energy groups will be able to access a share of £5 million in grant funding to support projects that will help communities generate their own clean power. This will build on funding to back projects including a new hydro-power technology in the River Dane to generate renewable energy for homes and businesses in Congleton, Cheshire.
The government is providing £6.8 million for existing Local Net Zero Hubs located across England, which offer a free to use service for local authorities to access the expertise and resource to get clean energy projects up and running, helping to pave the way for more community energy projects. The hubs are already supporting projects ranging from a new zero carbon hospital in West Suffolk, to a low Carbon Technology Centre in Herefordshire that will help local workers develop new skills in the clean energy sector.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland community energy funding:
Over £9.3 million funding for the devolved governments will be used for renewable energy schemes which can be deployed either onto public sector buildings or to support new community or local renewables schemes. This includes £4.85 million for Scotland, £2.88 million for Wales and £1.62 million for Northern Ireland.
The government has already announced an unprecedented partnership between Great British Energy and The Crown Estate to unlock investment in clean energy, confirmed Aberdeen will host Great British Energy’s headquarters, and struck a deal with the Scottish Government for the company to work with Scottish public bodies to support clean energy supply chains.
The members of Great British Energy’s start-up board met in Aberdeen on Monday 17 March for the first time, including Chair Juergen Maier, interim CEO Dan McGrail and the 5 non-executive directors. The government is also legislating through the Great British Energy Bill to give the company the powers it needs to rapidly deliver.
Great British Energy will support the government’s mission for clean power by 2030, with an action plan published in December to get more homegrown clean power to people and provide the foundation for the UK to build an energy system that can bring down bills for households and businesses for good.
In October 2020 the NHS made a commitment to be net zero by 2040 for the emissions it directly controls and by 2045 for the emissions it influences.
Estates and facilities account for 15 percent of the NHS carbon footprint, and the NHS is the UK’s largest single public energy user, with an estimated annual energy cost of nearly £1.5 billion.
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