Britain's Great British Energy unveils plan to boost renewable power by 2030

LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Great British Energy, a state-owned energy company, unveiled a five-year strategic plan on Thursday aimed at accelerating the country’s transition to renewable power to help meet its climate targets.

Britain is seeking to largely decarbonise its power sector by 2030, a goal that it says will help drive down energy costs and that will also require a huge increase in renewable capacity.

GBE was launched last year to invest in and co-develop clean power projects. The government has pledged a total of 8.3 billion pounds ($11.04 billion) over the current Parliament.

Under the strategic plan, GBE said it would deliver some 15 gigawatts of clean energy generation and storage capacity by 2030, enough to power around 10 million homes, by using its own investments and partnerships to help mobilise 15 billion pounds of private finance.

The company will focus on three priority areas: local community energy, onshore energy development, and offshore wind expansion, and will operate as both developer and equity investor, with returns from the publicly owned assets reinvested into new capacity.

“GBE will build a portfolio which is generating income by 2030 and be on a pathway to company-wide profitability,” the strategic plan said.

The initiative is expected to directly support over 10,000 jobs, including in regions that are historically reliant on oil and gas, while backing more than 1,000 local community energy projects, GBE said.

($1 = 0.7519 pounds) (Reporting by Susanna Twidale Editing by Frances Kerry)