The Scottish Government has welcomed confirmation from Keir Starmer that GB Energy will be headquartered in Aberdeen.
The prime minister revealed in his party conference speech this afternoon that the nationalised energy company will be headquartered in the granite city.
Described in policy papers as a ‘new publicly owned, clean power company for Britain’, GB Energy aims to become a world leader in floating offshore wind, nuclear power, and hydrogen.
Gillian Martin, acting cabinet secretary for net zero and energy, said: “We welcome confirmation that Aberdeen is the UK Government’s preferred location for GB Energy’s HQ.
“Aberdeen has a long and proud history of energy innovation and an outstanding skills base, and will be at the heart of Scotland’s just transition to clean energy. We will now press the UK Government to make sure that this announcement brings real decision-making to Aberdeen and adds value to the great work already taking place in the energy transition.
“More widely, we are working closely with the UK Government as it establishes the GBE team and we would encourage them to accelerate the establishment of the new organisation so that investment in projects in Scotland can be taken forward without delay.”
Starmer, in his speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, said: “We said GB Energy – our publicly-owned national champion, the vehicle that will drive forward our mission on clean energy – we said it belonged in Scotland.
“And it does. But the truth is, it could only really ever be based in one place in Scotland.
So today I can confirm that the future of British energy will be powered, as it has been for decades by the talent and skills of the working people in the Granite City with GB Energy based in Aberdeen.”