Miliband: State energy company will focus on testbed technologies

Labour’s proposed public-owned energy company is likely to focus on testbed technologies, such as green hydrogen and floating wind, Ed Miliband has revealed.

Appearing on an environment panel at the Labour-linked Fabian Society’s winter conference on Saturday, the shadow secretary of state for energy and climate was quizzed on the remit of Great British Energy (GBE), which was unveiled at Labour’s last annual conference in September.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said then that GBE would be a UK energy champion on the lines of Danish state-owned energy company Orsted, which has played a key role in rolling out North Sea wind power.

Explaining that Labour is currently developing a prospectus for GBE, Miliband said: “The focus will be probably around particular new technologies whether that’s green hydrogen, floating wind or tidal power, to give Britain the kind of competitive lead in this area.”

Noting that 45% of UK North Sea offshore wind assets are owned by foreign state-owned companies, he said GBE’s work would complement Labour’s plan to set up a national wealth fund to invest in companies like car battery gigafactories.

“This is about proper industrial policy so that we can take advantage of the green economy,” said the former Labour leader.

He was speaking after shadow chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves had used her keynote speech at the Fabian conference to announce that Labour would freeze the energy price guarantee at its current level of £2,500 in April, rather than letting it rise to £3,000 as the government is intending.

She told delegates that this move would be paid for by raising more than £13 billion from an extension to the windfall tax on oil and gas company profits.

Under Labour’s plans, Reeves said oil and gas profits would be taxed at the same rate as in Norway and an existing “loophole” on fossil fuel investment would be closed.

In addition, she said the tax would be backdated from the start of 2022, when oil and gas giants were already making “historically large profits” and that a Labour government would pass bill savings onto families “immediately”.