2010 Budget: Infrastructure bank to boost off-shore wind

Plans to develop £100bn of off-shore wind schemes will be the major beneficiary from the widely trailed £2bn green infrastructure bank finally announced this week.

Treasury papers said the institution, which will be set up by autumn next year, would be limited to green power and transport infrastructure, and would “focus initially” on off-shore wind projects.

Treasury officials said this was deemed most helpful because the fund is intended to provide equity in the early stage of ventures, and the government is determined that nuclear power redevelopment should be largely self-funding.

The £2bn fund, called the Green Investment Bank, will be made up of £1bn from the sale of existing public infrastructure ­ most notably the high-speed rail line from Dover to King’s Cross ­ matched by £1bn of private investment.

The bank will be administered by Infrastructure UK, set up at the time of the pre-Budget report, which will undertake a review of the cost of major civil engineering projects in the UK.

Fiona McDermott, UK head for building and construction at KPMG, said: “Investing this amount of money in off-shore wind is unlikely to make a significant difference to the construction industry in the short term.”