Accelerating energy infrastructure: the importance of policy, and confidence in delivery

After a period of extended economic and political uncertainty, the UK must urgently accelerate expansion and renewal of its energy infrastructure to meet decarbonisation deadlines and enable key growth areas like data centres and advanced manufacturing. Proactive and consistent policymaking is essential; however, to drive investment, confidence in delivery must be built.

After a hiatus in UK energy policymaking due to the general election period and parliamentary recess, there is currently new momentum from the Government with new policies, including investments in carbon capture and storage (CCS) and plans for small modular reactors through Great British Nuclear. However, these policies will only translate into tangible progress if backed by reliable execution. 

Since the start of October, £22bn in funding has been announced for three CCS projects. The announcements were swiftly followed by the launch of the Government’s new modern industrial strategy green paper: Invest 2035 and the hosting of high-profile international investors at the London International Investment Summit, where groups such as Iberdrola and Macquarie committed to multi-billion-pound spending on critical power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.  

The Government is rightly focused on building investor confidence to green-light programmes in these areas. However, the challenge is to make investor's positive intentions turn into reality. Investors want long-term certainty, and this hinges on two fundamental aspects: clear and consistent policies, and detailed and dependable plans for delivery. 

Maintaining policy momentum 

The significance of recent policy announcements, as mentioned above, cannot be understated. There is a palpable sense of urgency behind the government's focus on energy, which responds to three connected strands of policy:  

• Deadlines for UK decarbonisation are looming for the UK to meet its commitments to have cut emissions by 68 percent (compared to 1990) by 2030, and to reach net zero by 2050. 
• At the same time, concerns over energy security and consumer costs remain persistent due to rising geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. 
• Economically, key growth areas including data centres and advanced manufacturing, as well as housing, all rely on the development of infrastructure that provides new power connectivity.  

Despite these critical drivers, investment decisions for new energy generation, transmission and distribution have been pushed out and programme schedules have been continually delayed. The Government has made clear that its opportunity to directly subsidise infrastructure spending in the near future is limited. This places even greater emphasis on their role in lowering regulatory hurdles, encouraging private sector spending, and reducing risk for investors.  

This is why recent announcements are a crucial piece of the puzzle – signalling an intent to attract private partners.

“However, these policies must be supported by clear, actionable plans for execution, as without deliverability, investor confidence will wane, and no amount of policy will lead to real progress.”

Important decisions are yet to come from Great British Nuclear around small modular reactors, as well as further commitment to Great British Energy, and its remit. The recalibration of the Infrastructure Projects Authority and National Infrastructure Commission into a new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) from Spring 2025 is another essential part of this complex puzzle.  

Demonstrating deliverability  

Despite the importance of clarity over policy, it is not the sole factor driving investment decisions. In today’s complex investment environment, scrutiny over deliverability has grown exponentially. For investors, it’s no longer enough to hear about ambitious plans - they need compelling evidence that programmes will be kept on track, from the initial business case through to final delivery. To navigate this landscape effectively, it is crucial to focus on two interconnected areas: the capacity and skills necessary for project execution and the industry’s commitment to ensuring deliverability.   

1. Addressing capacity and skills

Capacity is the largest single challenge. Competing demands across various industries - utilities, defence and energy mean resources must be secured much earlier in programme planning. This applies to components and materials, as well as to skilled labour.  

The Government’s creation of Skills England is a positive move in addressing these challenges, but it is just the beginning.

“The Construction Industry Training Board estimates that 251,500 extra workers will be needed to meet UK construction output by 2028. This spans a wide range of skillsets for modern construction.” 

It is up to industry to proactively engage and work with the Government on the expertise that we need to develop. This is especially true in innovative areas like CCS, offshore wind and nuclear – building on the work already undertaken on the Nuclear Skills Taskforce.  

2. Industry’s role in ensuring deliverability 

Deliverability is not just a government concern – it is an industry imperative. Clients must set themselves up to meet investor expectations by establishing rigorous governance frameworks and adopting creative enterprise models and Programme Management Office (PMO) structures. These frameworks can leverage specialist expertise to unlock broader supply chains.  

Such oversight can be supported by the adoption of digital tools to optimise slim resources, while providing improved visibility to investors through a constant feed of performance data. This will ensure transparency and demonstrate that projects are on track. The ability to deliver with confidence will be the decisive factor in attracting the scale of investment needed to transform the UK’s energy landscape. 

Moving from policy to action  

Unlocking the scale of investment needed across UK energy and natural resources is not solely a job for the Government, but needs all stakeholders to take action. Policy has a key role in shaping the environment for investment, however, ultimately it is deliverability that will determine whether projects succeed or fail. Without clear, actionable and reliable delivery plans, policy announcements will remain empty promises.