PRIVATE capital has moved to flex its muscles less than a week after the government launched its green energy investment vehicle GB Energy, campaigners warned today.

The company, backed with £8.3 billion from the Treasury, has the stated aim of attracting £60bn in private investment in renewables, an investment imbalance privateers appear keen to exploit.

Green energy business group RenewableUK’s Dan McGrail warned it would be “vital that [GB Energy] doesn’t disrupt the billions of pounds of private investment,” adding that the “next steps of its development will have to be formed in close partnership with the sector.”