Great British Energy, the UK Government’s new publicly-owned energy company announced by the Labour party, is set to be headquartered in Aberdeen, following reports from the BBC.

Following victory in the recent general election, the Labour government announced the development of a nationalised energy company, following along plans it had published during its election campaign.

Up until now, the location of GB Energy was not disclosed, though Labour said it would be headquartered in Scotland when it announced plans to create the company.

While its base will be in the north east, it will have smaller satellite offices in other parts of Scotland, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, according to reports from the BBC.

However, the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESZT) has come out denying the claims, and claims that no decision on the location of the energy company has been made.

The announcement of GB Energy faced controversy, particularly from Aberdeen as its central industry is oil and gas.

During its campaign, Labour did have to make clear that GB Energy would not be an energy retailer, but would instead invest in renewable and clean energy projects, such as solar and wind, and would generate power in its own right, with funding from a windfall tax on oil and gas farms.

The Labour party also said that it would not issue any new oil and gas licences, but would not revoke any existing permits.

Prior to DESZT countering the claims, the SNP’s lead in UK parliament, Stephen Flynn, supported the announcement.

“Nobody sensible was seriously suggesting that a new energy body should be based outwith Aberdeen so to have this belated certainty is helpful,” he said, as reported by the BBC.

“Now we need to try and understand what this new energy body will actually do, and how it will benefit the people of Scotland given the scale of our resources.

“In that context, it’s only reasonable to expect any wealth created from Scotland’s resources to flow directly back to our communities and it’s important to be clear that this body being in Aberdeen is no mitigation to the damage that is likely to be caused to investment and jobs in our existing energy sector by Labour’s recently implemented tax regime.”

Labour promised that the creation of the company would bring “a huge number” of jobs to the country, but Scottish representatives are concerned about its impact on the north sea’s production.

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Still, campaigners for the climate, and for Aberdeen’s economy, are hopeful the creation and potential base of GB Energy will help the oil capital ease its transition to renewable energy and net zero.

“While we await confirmation from the government, and further detail on the functions and focus of a new publicly-owned energy company, we will continue to campaign for a well-managed transition that protects jobs, delivers energy security in the here and now and guarantees a bright future for our energy industry for decades to come,” Russel Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampain Chamber of Commerce said, as reported by the BBC.

Campaigners also hope that the transition to a publicly-owned company will mean residents of Aberdeen will reap the rewards of its energy success.

“If GB Energy enhances the role of public ownership and redirects revenue into the region, that could be a marked departure from how greedy oil giants have extracted profits for decades without much redistributed benefit for communities,” Rosie Hampton, Friends of the Earth Scotland just transition campainger, said.