News
UK Infrastructure Bank’s role in delivering Net-Zero
24 March 2021
As part of the Budget at the start of this month, the Chancellor of the Exchequer outlined in detail the remit and scope of the UK Infrastructure Bank. The Bank will support the raising and deployment of public and private investment for world-class infrastructure projects, channelling large sums into new infrastructure projects.
The Bank will be based in Leeds and play a central role in the helping the UK to deliver the clean and low carbon technologies and infrastructure needed to achieve Net-Zero, as well as helping to “Level-Up” the regions, build back better and driving the Green Recovery.
The establishment of this Bank follows the Government’s recent publishing of its ‘Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution’ and the Energy White Paper, which both highlighted the need for low-carbon technologies and infrastructure to meet the UK’s climate ambitions and support the green transition.
These are all positive developments and the new Bank is the sort of institution that the UK needs to help deliver the large amount of infrastructure required to successfully tackle climate change.
Many low-carbon energy projects require sustained, targeted investment to be brought forward. This applies to nuclear energy, which has a crucial role to play in decarbonising our economy as a source of low carbon, clean energy, which should form a part of our energy mix.
Policies like the Bank could be instrumental in bringing forward new approaches and designs for nuclear power, such as SMR and AMR designs.
U-Battery has unique off-grid applications which can help to support the decarbonisation of foundation industries (steel, paper and pulp, glass, ceramics, chemicals and minerals) in the UK, and we have already identified a potential 200 hundred sites where we could deploy a fleet of reactors.
We look forward to continuing to work with the UK Government to bring this exciting technology to market in the coming decade as part of the AMR Competition Phase 2.
About U-Battery
U-Battery is an advanced/small modular reactor, capable of providing a low-carbon, cost-effective, locally embedded and reliable source of power and heat for energy intensive industry and remote locations. It is being developed by Urenco in collaboration with a number of supporting organisations and has received funding from the UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's Energy Innovation Portfolio.
