The National Wealth Fund has set out plans to sharply accelerate investment, committing up to £5 billion a year of public money into clean energy, industrial transformation and strategic infrastructure as part of a more focused growth strategy.
Under the new approach, the fund will prioritise ten sectors, with clean energy at the core. These include energy storage, electricity networks, nuclear power, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage, alongside ports, green steel manufacturing, transport infrastructure, regional regeneration, battery manufacturing and the electric vehicle supply chain.
Oliver Holbourn, chief executive of the National Wealth Fund, said the strategy was designed to unlock “growth opportunities on the clean energy pathway” and position the UK to be more resilient and self-sufficient in a rapidly changing global economy.
The fund, which was rebranded in 2024 from the UK Infrastructure Bank, has a core capital budget of almost £28 billion. Over the past five years it has invested just over £8 billion, around half of that into clean energy, and helped crowd in £17 billion of private finance.
Holbourn said the NWF now intends to deploy the remainder of its capital over the next five financial years, targeting a ratio of £3 of private investment for every £1 of taxpayer funding. Clean energy will remain “a really core part of our portfolio”, he said.
In total, the fund estimates its activities will create or support around 200,000 jobs and drive more than £100 billion into the UK economy. A spokesperson confirmed that this headline figure includes the “exceptional” loan facility of up to £36.6 billion being provided via the NWF to the Sizewell C nuclear project, alongside its core investment programme.
Beyond its ten priority sectors, the NWF will also consider opportunities across a further 15 areas, including artificial intelligence and critical minerals. Holbourn said strengthening “sovereign and strategic capabilities” was increasingly important, with potential future investments in UK deposits of tungsten, cobalt, manganese and nickel, building on existing backing for lithium and tin projects.
Based in Leeds, the National Wealth Fund is wholly owned by the HM Treasury but operates independently of ministers. Its mandate is to support the government’s growth and clean energy missions, deliver a return for taxpayers, and catalyse private sector investment. Holbourn said the fund would continue to take “significantly more risk than other commercial financial institutions” while aiming to achieve underlying profitability within its planning period.
The fund’s minimum investment size is £25 million for equity or £50 million for debt, but Holbourn said average deal sizes would need to exceed £100 million to deploy capital at the required pace, given the organisation has capacity to complete around 40 investments a year.
To date, the NWF has made around 70 investments. These include major backing for upgrades to the UK’s electricity transmission network, such as an £800 million financial guarantee to support SSE’s grid projects in the north of Scotland, and a £600 million commitment to Scottish Power to reinforce connections between Scotland and England.
It has also invested across the energy storage sector, including lithium-ion battery projects and long-duration storage technologies such as Highview Power’s plans for large-scale liquid air energy storage. Other investments include Cornish Lithium, which aims to produce battery-grade lithium in Cornwall, and Cornish Metals, which is reviving historic tin mining in the region.
Holbourn said the faster deployment strategy reflects both urgency and opportunity. “We want to move quickly, but in a way that is targeted and strategic, helping to build the clean energy systems, industrial capacity and regional growth the UK needs for the long term,” he said.
