Sir Keir Starmer will tap into royal assets to unleash £60bn in green energy investment and hand bumper pay day to King
SIR Keir Starmer will tap into royal assets to unleash £60billion in green energy investment in Britain — and hand a bumper payday to King Charles.
The PM announced his new state-owned energy company would team up with the Crown Estate to begin developing monster offshore wind farms.
The monarchy’s property empire owns almost all of Britain’s seabed and leases it to wind farm operators.
It estimates the partnership will deliver up to 30 gigawatts of wind power — enough to supply nearly 20 million homes — by 2030.
And after a record £1.1billion profit last year — thanks in large part to offshore wind projects — the Crown Estate and the monarchy look certain to cash in.
Sir Keir, who has also lifted the ban on onshore wind farms, hailed the partnership as the first step towards his promise of clean energy by 2030 — and lower bills.
He is set to unveil the plans during a speech in the North West of England today.
Great British Energy, backed by £8.3billion in government funding, will help develop the projects before passing them to private companies while keeping a stake in them.
Sir Keir said: “This agreement will drive up to £60billion in investment into the sector, turbocharging our country toward energy security, the next generation of skilled jobs and lowering bills for families and business.”
The Crown Estate will also get new borrowing powers to ramp up seabed preparations for wind farm projects.
Chief executive of the Crown Estate Dan Labbad said: “With new powers and by partnering with government, we can drive greater investment into this future for our country.”
The Crown Estate, which has a £16billion portfolio of land and seabed, returns its profits to the Government, apart from a small portion which goes to the monarchy.