One of the largest infrastructure investment programmes for decades will be required across renewable generation, electricity networks, energy storage and low-carbon tech to achieve the UK’s energy transition, research published today by Santander UK and Standard Life shows.
The findings outlined in the report, Unlocking investment to finance the UK’s energy transition, highlight that £511 billion of investment is needed for the transition by 2040 – the equivalent to around £40 billion a year on average. UK financial institutions and other institutional investors already manage significant capital to support it; however, with long-term financing requirements and growing capital needs, pressure is likely to increase on traditional financing structures.
There is a mismatch between the characteristics of many clean energy infrastructure projects and those sought by institutional investors, and this is just one of a number of barriers to investment. The report has identified five practical solutions proposed to help address these barriers: credit enhancement guarantees, blended finance, aggregation, standardisation and greater collaboration between banks, institutional investors, project developers and Public Finance Institutions.
The analysis identifies that more efficient mobilisation of private capital is not simply a financing issue. Greater collaboration between banks and long-term investors could unlock around £120 billion of clean energy financing opportunities and enable approximately £137 billion of bank capital recycling opportunities, helping to accelerate investment into the renewable generation, electricity networks, energy storage and emerging clean technologies needed to strengthen the UK’s energy security. By increasing the pace at which critical infrastructure is financed and delivered, the UK can reduce its exposure to future energy shocks, support long-term economic growth and build a more resilient and secure energy system.
The research we have undertaken with Standard Life shows that collaboration between banks, insurers, institutional investors and other financial institutions, as well as developers and government, will be essential for the UK to reach its clean energy goals. The UK has a proven record of attracting private capital into energy infrastructure. The challenge going forward is not just in raising more capital, but in creating more efficient, productive mechanisms for the allocation of this capital across the financing ecosystem, and aligning it effectively with project risk. We have a real opportunity here, to unlock bigger and better investment, expedite infrastructure delivery, and support the UK’s economic resilience, security and, most excitingly, future growth.
– Benedict Smith, Head of Specialised & Project Finance, Santander
The UK has no shortage of long-term capital available to help support the energy transition. The challenge is ensuring that capital can be deployed efficiently, with the right investors financing the right risks at the right stage of a project’s lifecycle.
Our research shows that banks and institutional investors should not be viewed as competing sources of capital, but rather as complementary partners. Banks play a vital role in financing construction and managing complex risks, while long-term investors such as insurers can also participate selectively during construction where risks are well understood, appropriately allocated and supported by suitable contractual protections. They are particularly well placed to provide patient capital as projects become operational and generate predictable cash flows.
To mobilise that capital at scale, projects need to offer investable structures with an appropriate balance of risk and return, supported where necessary by greater standardisation, aggregation and targeted public-sector risk sharing. This can broaden access to long-term capital while delivering attractive, secure returns for retirement savers. Strengthening collaboration across the financing ecosystem will be critical not only for meeting our clean energy ambitions, but also for enhancing the UK’s long-term energy security, economic resilience and competitiveness.
– Manuel Dusina, Head of Real Assets, Standard Life
