The plan unveiled today is the first major project for Great British Energy, which will immediately begin working with schools and the NHS to install solar panels, build local clean power and bring down energy bills.

In England, around £80m in funding will support around 200 schools, alongside £100m for nearly 200 NHS sites to install rooftop solar panels that could power classrooms and operations, with potential to sell leftover energy back to the grid.

The first panels are expected to be in schools and hospitals by the end of summer.

In addition, local authorities and community energy groups will also be supported by nearly £12m to help build local clean energy projects – from community-led onshore wind, to solar on rooftops and hydropower in rivers.

A further £9m will power schemes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland including community energy or rooftop solar for public buildings.

The support will target schools and hospitals with buildings that are able to accommodate solar panels in areas of England most in need.

As part of this, government will select the schools which will be primarily clustered in areas of deprivation in the North East, West Midlands and North West, as well as at least 10 schools in each region.

Each cluster will include a further education college which will work with the contractors appointed to promote careers in renewables to support growth in the construction and renewables workforce. This could be through work placements, skills bootcamps and workshops.

Alongside this, the NHS ran an expression of interest process to identify the selected hospital sites, with installations managed by the NHS.