Clean Industry Bonus Funding Surges Amid High Demand
Industrial communities set to benefit from new jobs and growth in their towns and cities, as funding is more than doubled for the Clean Industry Bonus.
- Industry backs government’s clean energy superpower mission with double the number of bids expected for the Clean Industry Bonus
- Energy Secretary increases budget to £544 million, backing clean energy growth in UK’s industrial heartlands and coastal communities
- Follows the Prime Minister’s £300 million announcement to support offshore wind supply chains, building Britain’s clean energy future through Plan for Change
Hundreds of bids have come through from the UK’s offshore wind sector, in a strong signal that industry supports the government’s clean power by 2030 mission. Following higher than expected demand, the Energy Secretary has increased the bonus from an initial £200 million to £544 million.
The Clean Industry Bonus will provide financial rewards for offshore wind developers, on the condition they prioritise investment in regions that need it most or in cleaner supply chains, including traditional oil and gas communities, ex-industrial areas and ports and coastal towns.
It will support cleaner manufacturers, new upgraded factories, port infrastructure and more business for UK supply chains, whilst supporting highly skilled jobs such as engineers, electricians and welders on the clean energy transition.
It is expected that for every £1 spent on the bonus, it could leverage up to £17 of private sector investment, mainly into some of the UK’s most deprived communities – providing a huge return for communities from clean energy projects.
This comes after the Prime Minister’s announcement last month to bring forward a £300 million investment through Great British Energy to win global offshore wind investment for the UK, building Britain’s clean energy future through the Plan for Change.
Government support is expected to leverage up to £9.3 billion in private sector investment over the next four years, creating economic growth by backing the clean energy supply chain that make offshore wind blades and cables and develop low carbon factories.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said:
Industry have backed our clean energy superpower mission, and we are helping them to deliver it.
This is the type of muscular industrial policy Britain needs to create jobs, drive growth and transform the fortunes of industrial towns and cities, delivering our Plan for Change.
Claire Mack, Chief Executive at Scottish Renewables, said:
This announcement makes clear that clean energy offers a strong return on investment for the country. It also demonstrates that Scotland’s offshore wind sector has the potential to deliver transformational benefits for our supply chains, skilled workforces and coastal communities.
Now is the time to go further and faster to capture this unrivalled opportunity for green industrial growth. Scottish Renewables will work closely with the UK government to ensure funding from the Clean Industry Bonus can be maximised through the successful deployment of Scotland’s offshore wind pipeline in the years ahead.
RenewableUK’s Executive Director of Policy Ana Musat said:
This additional funding has the potential to help secure billions in private investment in new factories manufacturing components for the offshore wind industry across the UK. Importantly for the country, these investments will create new jobs in coastal communities which need fresh opportunities.
The expansion of the offshore wind supply chain will, in turn, enable us to deliver the massive pipeline of offshore wind projects planned for installation in UK waters at the lowest cost for billpayers in the years ahead.
The Clean Industry Bonus is a good starting point as part of a wider industrial strategy which the government is due to unveil in full this summer, and which we hope will be complimented by new policies to support the expansion of UK ports. With larger ports, we could secure even more investment in offshore wind manufacturing and turbine assembly”.
Adam Berman, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Energy UK, said:
The UK’s continued growth in offshore wind is delivering jobs and business opportunities up and down the country.
Every new, large offshore wind farm adds £2-3 billion to the UK’s economy and – if deployment is accelerated – the sector could boost it by a further £25 billion between now and 2035.
Ensuring that the people and businesses located near to projects benefit is as important as ensuring wider economic growth. The transformation of regions like the Humber demonstrates the positive impact these projects can have.
We welcome the government’s focus and support in making sure that communities reap the rewards of this burgeoning sector. Industry is fully aligned with government on the need to capture the full benefits of clean power for both local communities and British businesses building the supply chain that underpins these projects.
Funding comes ahead of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy, which will turbocharge growth in the UK’s key sectors including clean energy.
The application window for the Clean Industry Bonus is now closed, with the winners expected to be announced after the final budget in May.
Notes
The budget is expressed in 2025 prices. All CIB payments will be indexed using the Consumer Price Index. Funding is allocated competitively through an auction: proposals that unlock the biggest investments, for the cheapest amount of revenue support, score the highest.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/funding-boost-for-clean-industry-bonus-as-bids-smash-expectations