Labour has announced it will work with the Royal Family to build a new raft of wind farms off the UK coast.
The Crown Estate, which administers King Charles’s business interests, is collaborating with the government’s new energy body, Great British Energy, in allocating sites for power development.
King Charles owns most of the UK seabed up to a distance of twelve nautical miles from the UK coast.
The government plans to build between 20-30 gigawatts of new offshore wind farms by 2030 and will work with the Crown Estate to allocate leases on the seabed for these new developments.
GB Energy will receive £8.3 billion of funding over the next five years to instigate and financially support projects, initially to sell them on to a private operator to run.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “This innovative partnership between Great British Energy and the Crown Estate is an important step toward our mission for clean energy by 2030, and bringing down energy bills for good.
“This agreement will drive up to £60 billion in investment into the sector, turbocharging our country toward energy security, the next generation of skilled jobs, and lowering bills for families and businesses.”
In addition to partnering with GB Energy, a new bill will allow the Crown Estate to borrow more to fund the preparation of seabeds for use as wind farms.
Most of the money from the monarch’s £16 billion portfolio of assets, which includes high streets among other things, goes to the Government, with a small portion allocated to the monarch through the Civil List.
Under current rules, the Crown Estate cannot use its cash reserves to invest.
Crown Estate chief executive Dan Labbad said: “The Crown Estate exists to serve the national interest, including stewarding our natural resources to deliver a decarbonised, energy secure, and sustainable future.”