© Supplied by LinkedIn GB Energy needs to develop a technology-focused strategy if it is to reach its long-term ambition of becoming a full-fledged operator.
Speaking at OEUK Conference 2025 in Aberdeen, GB Energy interim CEO Dan McGrail said: “I believe quite deeply that to set up a publicly owned energy company, we need to have technology focus at our core.
“I don’t want GB Energy to be an investment vehicle. Our ambition is to be an energy company.”
GB Energy chairman Juergen Maier has previously stated his ambition to turn GB Energy into a UK equivalent to Ørsted or Vattenfall.
In his plan, the group would expand its remit from being an investment vehicle, taking stakes in other companies’ developments, to operating its own renewable energy projects.
In his comments, McGrail noted that many European state-owned companies built themselves around a certain technology – Vattenfall and Statkraft with hydro; Ørsted with offshore wind, and EDF with nuclear.
“We need to build a technology strategy, which probably isn’t only about one technology, but it’s about a combination of technologies that meet that test,” McGrail said.
GB Energy and floating wind
GB Energy has been working to develop a clear list of investment opportunities for the company, with reports saying the company has its eye on Floatation Energy and Vårgrønn’s Green Volt floating offshore wind farm.
© Supplied by Flotation Energy“I’ve talked about floating offshore wind already,” McGrail said, “but there are some additional areas that we need to add to that portfolio.”
He added that GB Energy will spend the coming months developing a long-term strategic plan to develop the company into a full-fledged operator, working in partnership with industry.
“We want to work with partners at a national level, but also at a regional level, particularly with the Aberdeen business community, to make sure that the strategy that we develop is complementary and intertwined into the regional strategy of our home city – that is going to be absolutely key,” McGrail said.
“Over the coming months and years, we do have an opportunity here to build a lasting British institution. We have an opportunity to reindustrialise large areas of the UK at the hands of the energy transition bringing jobs, growth and prosperity.”
He added: “GB Energy will use its role at the heart of all of these matters to work with partners, with government, with industry, to bring about the changes that we need to deliver clean power by 2030 and well beyond.”
