What does the UK government's 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy mean for the energy sector?

The government published its long-term plan for the UK's economic infrastructure strategy on 19 June. It includes significant investments for clean and nuclear energy as part of the UK's 2030 commitments to net zero.

The ten-year masterplan demonstrates the government's vision for delivering critical infrastructure across the UK. The strategy paper pledges a minimum of £725bn in infrastructure investment over the next decade, and places great emphasis on clean and nuclear energy as part of an effort to introduce a culture of long-term planning, regulatory clarity and regional distribution to UK's ongoing energy transition.

Becoming a 'clean energy superpower'

A key part of the strategy is the government's ambition to make the UK a "clean energy superpower". This is represented by its commitment to Great British Energy, launching the UK’s first regional hydrogen transport network and investments in strategic electricity transmission and distribution networks and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

On a more granular level, the infrastructure policy and associated investments set out the following milestones for driving clean energy:

• building up GB Energy: the publicly-owned renewable energy body will spearhead the development, investments and ownership of clean energy projects across the UK, with up to £8.3bn to be deployed over the Spending Review Period in renewable and nuclear power projects;
• delivering the Clean Power Action Plan: targeting up to 43-50 GW of offshore wind, 27-29 GW of onshore wind and 45-47 GW of solar generation by 2030; and
• ongoing investments in carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) and green hydrogen projects: allocating £9.4bn for CCUS in the East Coast, HyNet, Acorn and Viking clusters and providing over £500m for hydrogen infrastructure to develop the first regional hydrogen transport and storage network.

The delivery of these milestones will be overseen and assisted by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), formed on 1 April 2025. NISTA will launch an online Infrastructure Pipeline in July 2025, which is designed as a dynamic list of infrastructure and construction projects being progressed over the coming ten-year period.

It will also introduce a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan in 2026, jointly led by the National Energy System Operator and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), to deliver a three-dimensional plan for energy generation, storage and hydrogen assets across the UK. This will in turn support prioritisation of energy projects in the grid connection queue as part of the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan.

Going nuclear

The second major policy plank of the government's efforts to maintain momentum towards net zero have already been unveiled earlier this year: forming part of the government's June 2025 Comprehensive Spending Review, the government announced £14.2bn in support for the Sizewell C nuclear power station project over the spending review period, as well as investments of over £2.5bn in Small Modular Reactor (SMR) programmes, with Rolls‑Royce SMR selected as preferred bidder to partner with Great British Energy.

Nuclear power will form a key role in the UK's future energy system by providing stable, low-carbon power. But as four of the five operational nuclear power plants may go offline by 2030 (and Hinckley C expected to start generating between 2029-31), the scaling up in the use of SMRs offers significant industrial, export and strategic potential.

Decarbonising the economy

Going hand in glove with building up clean power production is decarbonising the existing built environment and transportation through the following investments:

• £13.2bn of investments (including £5bn of financial transactions and devolved government guarantees) over the Spending Review 2025 for the Warm Homes Plan, targeting energy efficiency measures, rolling-out heat pumps and low-carbon technologies; and
• £2.6bn of capital investments to decarbonise transport from 2026-27 to 2029-30 via EV rollouts and associated charging infrastructure.

Osborne Clarke comment

There is no question that the task at hand is substantial: according to government estimates, energy investments to deliver clean power will require £40bn on average per year between 2025-2030 (comprising £30bn for generation and £10bn for transmission networks alone), and the vast majority of this will need to come from the private sector.

While ambitious and broadly welcomed across the energy industry, the main question on everyone's mind is whether ambition can be matched by the capacity of UK's industries supporting the government's roadmap – the strategy paper admits that labour shortages and supply chain constraints in the construction industry will pose a challenge. The good news is that sector-specific support is already being offered to alleviate these issues, including GB Energy providing £300m to invest in supply chains for domestic offshore wind. And the private sector is equally responding to the improved clarity and confidence in the government's policymaking by deploying capital, with over £43.7bn of private investments announced in clean energy industries since July 2024.

Nevertheless, it is important to remember that the strategy paper is just a foundational part of a much greater shift in approach, with emphasis on long-term planning in the infrastructure sector and its importance on future economic growth of the UK. Coupled with the publication of the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy 2025 policy paper on 23 June – covering sectors including clean energy, manufacturing, and defence among others – there is plenty in store to watch in this space.