We invest long-term capital into the clean energy sector to accelerate progress towards a low-cost, low-carbon economy. We have invested £1.3 billion to date, including a £57 million financing agreement to support Hermes Infrastructure, who provides solar photovoltaic systems to more than 9,000 private residences and social housing rooftops. We’ve also purchased a 36% stake in the The Kensa Group, whose technology makes it possible to heat homes using ground-source heat pumps, and invested in Oxford PV to help commercialise a new generation of super-efficient solar panels.
We are working on major regeneration schemes in towns and cities across the UK, to create opportunities and provide access to basic services and infrastructure for everyone. We have already invested £790 million into transformation schemes in towns and cities including Bath, Bristol, Bracknell, Swindon, Weston-Super-Mare, Cardiff and Sheffield. We're helping to support employment, with venture capital investments in over 770 companies, and a commitment to a £100 million regeneration project in Sunderland that will create 3,000 jobs and a £1.1 billion investment in Leeds that will create 13,000 jobs. We're also helping to put cities at the forefront of the knowledge economy, with investments including our £350 million collaboration with Newcastle University and Newcastle City Council to develop the Newcastle Helix. And, with millions of people in the UK on housing waiting lists or in temporary accommodation, we have invested £750 million into new affordable housing and plan to build 3,000 affordable homes every year, so even more people will have a place to call their own.
In 2019 alone, we invested £1.1 billion in renewable and alternative energy – in particular, solar and offshore wind power. We have already committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions from our housing portfolio by 2030, which is diversified across Build to Sell, Build to Rent, affordable and specialist housing, and we expect to have reached over 50,000 homes by the end of the decade. This year we are also running a Climate Change Hackathon, to identify ideas that could have a genuine impact and the teams that can bring them to life.