As one of the government’s principal investors, the National Wealth Fund deploys capital at scale for large infrastructure projects and supports the UK’s industrial strategy.
Established in 2021, initially operating as the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB), . it focuses on providing finance to drive growth and the clean energy transition within government priority sectors facing a capital shortfall, aiming to shape and scale these markets. Ultimately, the Fund’s investments mobilise private capital, create jobs and opportunities, and boost local economies across the UK, whist bolstering security and resilience.
Capitalised at £ 22 billion—comprising £10 billion in guarantees, £8 billion in equity and loans, and £4 billion for local authority loans—the Fund (as UKIB) initially targeted investments in the Clean Energy, Digital, Water & Waste, and Green Transport sectors. Early projects included loans and guarantees to alternative networks (AltNets) such as Gigaclear and CityFibre to support broadband rollout, focusing particularly on rural, underserved areas to foster connectivity and economic growth. During this phase, the Fund also provided loans for utility-scale battery storage, EV charging infrastructure, electric bus fleets, to address commercial lending shorfalls in these less mature, higher risk sectors. In the battery storage sector specifically, the organisation’s early investments (for example, in Pulse Energy) helped build commercial lenders' confidence in a market where growth has since accelerated significantly.
Following the 2024 General Election, UKIB was transformed into the National Wealth Fund. This saw its total capitalisation increased to £27.8bn and gave it a broader infrastructure and supply chain remit to reflect the Government's Modern Industrial Strategy, encompassing selected industrial strategy priorities such as advanced manufacturing, defence, and AI.Earlier this week the Chancellor announced a further £15.4bn capital for the National Wealth Fund to ensure it can continue investing at scale in the UK’s future.
The Fund published its strategy earlier this year, outlining its support for Catalytic and Active sectors. In the Catalytic sectors the emphasis is on the Fund assisting high-potential, earlier-stage technology enterprises operating in underfunded financial markets (often requiring equity investment), as well as financing core infrastructure, such as power grids; in the Active sectors, the Fund primarily focuses on providing loans and guarantees to lower-risk, mature, fast-growing infrastructure sectors facing financing capacity constraints.
This approach aims to achieve its three Strategic Ambitions:
- Unlocking growth on the pathway to clean energy
- Accelerating place-based investment
- Strengthening sovereign and strategic capabilities
Some of the projects the Fund has backed as an anchor investor over the last two years include CCUS (e.g. the Derbyshire Cement Cluster CO2 pipeline to offshore storage), gigawatt-scale battery storage projects (e.g. the Fidra 1.9 GW platform), EV charging infrastructure (e.g. the rollout of more than 33,000 Osprey, Connected Kerb, and Gridserve charging stations), and green hydrogen production (e.g. GeoPura). The Fund also took an equity stake in Cornish Lithium and Cornish Metals, helping mobilise finance in the challenging, higher-risk mining development sector while strengthening sovereign resilience through the localisation of critical mineral sources. In these examples, the Fund helped close equity or lending gaps, partnering with private-sector investors and accelerating the closure of projects that may have otherwise stalled.
The Fund has also stepped in when the sheer scale and funding requirements of projects demanded intervention to address financial market constraints—for instance, by adding volume or providing longer loan tenors that would otherwise be unavailable. Over the past year, the Fund has backed large-scale grid reinforcement, extension, and interconnector projects through loans and guarantees, partnering with TSOs such as Scottish Power, SSE, and National Grid. The offshore wind sector is experiencing similar constraints, and the Fund is working with AR7 project sponsors to help address the challenge.
Additionally, the Fund plays a key role in supporting the deployment of the UK’s new nuclear infrastructure as the main lender for Sizewell C (£36 billion) and by financing the design development phase of Rolls-Royce’s Small Modular Reactor (SMR) project.
Accelerating place-based investment by working with devolved administrations and local authorities is another key pillar of the Fund’s mission. It works closely with Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Local Authorities, providing commercial and financial advice to help convert their infrastructure pipelines into bankable projects that achieve better outcomes and value for money, as well as providing loans at competitive rates. Glasgow City Region and the Combined Authorities of Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and the West Midlands were the first Strategic Partnerships launched under the Fund’s Regional Project Accelerator in 2025, focusing heavily on retrofit, mass transport, and regeneration projects.
At the time of writing, the Fund has made 90 investments and deployed over a third of its core capital capacity (£10.9 billion), more than £6.3 billion of which has been invested in clean energy. Including its Sizewell C loan it is enabling around 6 GW of clean energy, alongside 7 GW of energy storage capacity. It has mobilised more than £21 billion in private capital, enabling the creation of 83,000 jobs and saving over 117 million tonnes of CO2e greenhouse gas emissions.
*the views expressed are the author’s and not ICAEW’s