The UK secured 18 deals representing GBP 9.7 billion (USD 13.4bn/EUR 11.5bn) of new foreign investment and 30,000 new jobs at the Global Investment Summit, the government announced on Tuesday.
The country hosted the summit in the run-up to COP26 next month in Glasgow to attract foreign investment in green industries.
The 18 deals, led by a GBP-6-billion commitment by Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE), will support growth in sectors such as wind energy, hydrogen, sustainable homes and carbon capture and storage, the government said.
The Global Investment Summit also saw the announcement by UK prime minister Boris Johnson and Bill Gates of a GBP-400-million partnership between the UK government and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst to spur investment in clean energy technologies.
The initiative focuses on green hydrogen, long term energy storage, sustainable aviation fuels and direct air capture of carbon dioxide, the four technologies Catalyst sees as crucial for large-scale decarbonisation.
The UK government has already committed at least GBP 200 million for projects in these areas and the partnership will mobilise GBP 200 million of private sector investment over 10 years.
Among the deals is a commitment by Spanish electric utility Iberdrola, which confirmed its intention to invest, through Scottish Power, GBP 6 billion in the East Anglia Hub. The investment is subject to planning consent for East Anglia ONE North and TWO and contracts for difference for all three projects in the hub. Set to be located off the coast of Suffolk, the East Anglia ONE North, East Anglia TWO and East Anglia THREE projects will have a combined capacity of 3 GW.
This commitment is in addition to Iberdrola’s record GBP-10-billion UK investment between 2020 and 2025 to double renewable generation capacity and support decarbonisation, the company said.
Another big investor in the UK green economy is global logistics firm Prologis Inc (NYSE:PLD), which plans to invest GBP 1.5 billion over the next three years to develop net zero carbon warehouses. KKR-owned waste management Viridor Ltd plans to spend up to GBP 1 billion on decarbonisation technology across five of its UK sites.
Budweiser Brewing Group, the UK arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev (EBR:ABI), and UK-based green hydrogen energy services company Protium will partner on the deployment of a hydrogen generation system at the Magor brewery in South Wales.
Ultimate Battery Company will invest GBP 28 million in a UK plant for lightweight, eco-friendly batteries. HyPoint plans GBP-6.6-million South East headquarter for the development of its next-generation hydrogen fuel cell system, while Huaneng will invest in a 50-MW battery storage project in StoneHill.
(GBP 1 = USD 1.383/EUR 1.187)
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