UK government commits £86.5m to ITM Power's South Yorkshire hydrogen project as Great British Energy makes its first major industrial investment
Great British Energy (GBE) — the UK's newly established publicly owned energy company — and the government have jointly committed £86.5 million to ITM Power, a Sheffield-based manufacturer of electrolysers (industrial devices that use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen), to support the development of a next-generation electrolyser stack for green hydrogen production. The investment comprises £40 million from GBE and a further £46.5 million in government funding announced on 9 April 2026. ITM Power's new electrolyser technology, named Chronos, is designed to deliver improved energy efficiency and lower production costs at industrial scale, supporting the adoption of green hydrogen — hydrogen produced using renewable electricity rather than fossil fuels — across industrial sectors. The project is located in South Yorkshire and is expected to create over 400 jobs, building on the region's industrial heritage. The announcement is made under the auspices of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and is directly linked to the UK's Clean Power 2030 target and its broader hydrogen strategy. The investment is structured as a public-private financing arrangement, with GBE taking an equity or grant position alongside the government grant component. ITM Power is a London Stock Exchange-listed company, meaning the investment will trigger disclosure obligations and potentially raise questions about state aid compatibility under the UK's subsidy control regime under the Subsidy Control Act 2022.
Why this matters
This is Great British Energy's first major publicised industrial investment and establishes a precedent for how GBE will deploy capital — through co-investment with government grants in listed clean energy companies. That structure activates subsidy control law (under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, which replaced EU state aid rules post-Brexit), listing rule disclosure obligations, and project finance structuring work. The 'why now' is the combination of the UK's Clean Power 2030 statutory target and the political urgency created by the Iran-driven energy price shock, which has made energy security arguments for domestic hydrogen production compelling. Law firms with strong energy regulatory, project finance, and public procurement practices will advise both GBE as it scales its deployment and the industrial companies seeking investment from it.
On the Ground
A trainee on a government-backed clean energy investment would assist with regulatory filing coordination — including subsidy control notifications if required — summarise the relevant Subsidy Control Act 2022 conditions and exemptions in a compliance memo, and review grid connection agreement terms to confirm the project has secured the network access needed to operate at scale.
Interview prep
Soundbite
GBE's first industrial-scale investment sets the template for UK public clean energy co-financing — every future GBE deal will need subsidy control and project finance advice.
Question you might get
“How does the UK's Subsidy Control Act 2022 regime differ from the EU state aid rules it replaced, and what legal risks does that create for a public body co-investing alongside private shareholders in a listed company?”
Full answer
The UK government and Great British Energy have together committed £86.5m to ITM Power for a South Yorkshire green hydrogen project, marking GBE's first major industrial investment. This matters legally because the structure — public entity equity or grant investment alongside government funding in a listed company — sits at the intersection of subsidy control law, LSE disclosure obligations, and project finance. The broader context is the UK's Clean Power 2030 commitment and the Iran conflict-driven energy security imperative, both of which are accelerating public investment in domestic clean energy infrastructure. This is the beginning of a substantial pipeline of GBE-led co-investments, each of which will require structuring advice, and the Subsidy Control Act 2022 framework is still relatively untested, creating genuine legal complexity around permissible state support levels.
Sources
My notes
saved