Green-energy projects worth more than £10billion have enjoyed support from a three-year-old specialist investment bank which has its headquarters in Scotland.
The Green Investment Bank (GIB) said it had chipped in £2.3billion to 58 infrastructure developments since its official launch in November 2012.
GIB added it had partnered nearly 100 co-investors and was now “the most active investor in the UK’s renewable-energy and energy efficiency industries”.
The state-owned bank is said to be the first of its kind anywhere in the world and was created specifically to fund green-energy projects.
Its third anniversary falls just five months after the UK Government announced it was selling it.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid said yesterday the Edinburgh-headquartered bank was “going from strength to strength” and having a major impact supporting renewable-energy projects across the whole of the UK.
He added: “Crucially, it has demonstrated that investing in green technology and our future energy security can be a profitable business.
“I am sure the coming years will see a significant scaling-up of its operations as it moves into private ownership and mobilises private sector capital.”
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “The investment that supports our fight against climate change and reducing our carbon footprint is essential.
“It is vital the GIB remains strong to its current green purpose and operating principles to ensure that all the successes highlighted today can be maintained.”
GIB chief executive Shaun Kingsbury said: “We have shown that green investment is good business.
“Our focused team of market experts has moulded a flexible and creative investment strategy that has played a major role in establishing a commercial market for green infrastructure investment in the UK.”
GIB says its investments, which have gone into projects including offshore windfarms, biomass boilers for whisky distilleries and street lighting, will help to cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking nearly every car in Scotland off the road.
According to the UK Government, private ownership will free the bank from “limitations on where it can borrow money and EU regulations on state aid”.
The sell-off plan came hot on the heels of Westminster announcing an end to subsidies for onshore windfarms, while further policy announcements have led many people to think Westminster is lukewarm on renewables.
In Scotland, the recent collapses of green-energy developers Aquamarine Power and Pelamis Wave Power have only added to fears about the future of the renewables industry.
According to Mark Stewart, a partner in accountancy network RSM specialising in renewable-energy, anyone hoping for “big gestures” for the industry in today’s autumn statement is likely to be disappointed.
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