British power generator and grid operator SSE Plc has laid out plans to spend up to 40 billion pounds on clean energy projects this decade and called on the government to keep Britain competitive.

SSE chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davis said: 'What we would like to see is a quicker pace and make sure the UK can compete with places like the US with the Inflation Cut Act.

Phillips-Davis said that the possibility of SSE's future investment in the United States is not ruled out, but it is expected that Europe will still be its core market. The UK has a contracts for difference scheme to help spur investment in new renewable energy projects, offering guaranteed minimum prices for the electricity they produce.

Prices for renewable energy under the system have fallen sharply over the past few years, especially for offshore wind projects, but Phillips-Davis said policymakers need to get used to ending persistently low prices. Policy makers need to reset their positions, especially to account for supply chain inflation, he said.

The latest round of CfD auctions in the UK set an auction price of £45 per megawatt-hour for offshore wind, which many developers say may be too low to move ahead with projects. The announcement of the investment plans comes as SSE reported an adjusted pre-tax profit of 2.18 billion pounds for the year to March 31, up from 1.16 billion pounds a year earlier, thanks to high energy prices and strong renewable generation.

The SSE said it also set aside £43m in the final quarter of the financial year for the UK Energy Generation Levy, a windfall tax imposed on power companies from January as energy prices hit record highs last year.Editor/XingWentao