It comes after the Government confirmed Prime Minister Boris Johnson has secured almost £10billion in foreign investments ahead of the Global Investment Summit. The event today will see Mr Johnson unveil 18 new deals in sectors such as wind and hydrogen energy, sustainable homes and carbon capture. The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss hosted 20 of the world’s most powerful executives, including Bill Gates, at Number 10.
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, hosted 320 summit attendees and ministers at a dinner in the City.
It comes after Mr Macron capitalised on the UK’s restrictive quarantine rules by inviting 120 foreign executives to his event in the Palace of Versailles in June.
His “Choose France” summit secured deals worth €3.5billion (£3billion) with JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon and his Goldman Sachs counterpart David Solomon.
A Whitehall source told the Telegraph that Mr Johnson will announce “substantially more” investments today.
But some of the deals are said to have been secured before last night’s dinner.
Iberdrola’s £6billion investment through ScottishPower for an East Anglia offshore wind farm was originally announced in 2019.
Ignacio Galán, the Iberdrola chairman, said: “Our £6bn investment in the East Anglia Hub would be a significant step to achieving enough offshore wind to power every UK home by 2030.”
A spokesman for the Department for International Trade said that this was the first time that the Iberdrola chairman had made a personal commitment to invest £6bn into the UK.
Meanwhile, French state-owned energy company EDF offered to build nuclear reactors in Poland.
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Some energy experts have, however, questioned the role “outdated” nuclear technology will play in the future.
Professor Charlie Wilson of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, argued earlier this month wind power is cheaper and more efficient.
According to the expert, electricity generated by wind turbines costs about £40 per megawatt hour, compared to the £92.50 of the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Somerset.
He told the BBC: “The game-changing technologies around storage and flexibility mean intermittent renewables – like large offshore wind farms – are now viable as a reliable generation source.
“We’ve seen in recent years phenomenal improvements in battery technologies which are now being deployed throughout the electricity system.”