I’m returning to the ‘Bute’ stable of companies, a subject I’ve ignored for a while. More especially, some aspects of Bute’s operations that may have been overlooked.
1/ How did investment company and property developers the Parabola group, from which Bute emerged, learn about the opportunities offered by wind turbines in Wales?
2/ We’ve been told the funding for Bute’s projects will come from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and the Wales Pension Partnership. But is that true?
I’m starting with some background, which I think sets the scene. So please indulge me there before we move on later to the ‘meat’ of the piece.
◊
THE TRAILBLAZER GETTING A LITTLE HELP FROM THE COMRADES
Before the boys from Parabola ever heard of Nant Mithil, Waun Hesgog, or Blaencothi, other nobly-intentioned businessmen, alarmed by the impending climate crisis, were trying their damnedest to cover central Wales in wind turbines.
I’m going to focus on one of those wind farms; Hendy, to the east of Llandrindod.
Planning permission was refused by Powys County Council in April 2017, and that decision was upheld by a planning inspector a year later. But then, Lesley Griffiths, Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs Secretary for the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’ intervened, to ignore the inspector’s decision and give Hendy the green light.
Prior to this, an inspector’s decision was almost the final word. But now it was being over-ridden using the legislation that gave us Developments of National Significance.
From now on ‘Welsh Ministers’ had authority to rule on electricity generation projects with a maximum installed capacity of 10MW to 50MW. Below that, responsibility lies with local authorities; and above, it’s the UK government.
Which means that developers pitch their projects in the 10 – 50MW ‘sweet spot’.
The main director of Hendy Wind Farm Ltd was Stephen John Radford. He had other wind companies including, in Wales, Rhoscrowther Wind Farm Ltd, on the Haven, and Bryn Blaen Wind Farm Ltd, near Llangurig.
Radford was very close to, if not fronting for, the U+I group. Though it seemed he also had his own piggy-bank in Njord Energy Ltd.
Lobbying Powys councillors on behalf of the Hendy wind farm was Anna McMorrin. She was seen at a meeting on 27 April 2017, desperately trying to hand a note to councillors considering the project.
She was working for Invicta Public Affairs, which has its headquarters in Newcastle, but also a presence in Edinburgh, and Glasgow.
She had been working as a Spad in Corruption Bay, for which she was rewarded by being selected as the Labour candidate for Cardiff North. In June 2017 she became the MP.
Maybe this is the first instance of someone working simultaneously for the Labour party and wind energy developers. There have been many more since Anna McMorrin.
Once they got to know each other, I’m sure Radford made the boys from Parabola understand that to get anything done in Wales you must have people working for you inside the Labour party.
◊
THEY MEET, AND THE BOYS FROM PARABOLA BECOME BUTE
In September 2018 Windward Generation Ltd was launched; the name changed to Bute Energy the following month, and finally became RSCO 3750 Ltd in March 2020.
The founding directors were Oliver James Millican and Lawson Douglas Steele, who were joined a week later by Radford. The man from Hendy left in December 2019 and was replaced by Stuart Allan George, who’d left Parabola with Millican and Steele.
But I want to go back a little further, and consider the ‘Windward’ name.
Just before Christmas 2014 Windward Enterprises Ltd was launched. This company’s stated business was ‘Financial management’. The sole director was Oliver James Millican, using secretarial services in Edinburgh, but a Newcastle office address for himself. (Newcastle being where Parabola started out.)
This was a long time before any interest was expressed in wind turbines.
In November 2016 the address switched to Broadgate Tower in London, where we now find Parabola; and the company name changed in August 2018 to WELN1 Ltd.
We encounter the ‘Windward’ name a number of times early on in this saga, but what if it has nothing to do with wind power, and instead refers to the Windward Islands in the Caribbean?
I’m thinking now of tax havens. Just a thought.
If you study the timeline of company formations, you’ll see that the first ‘Bute’ company, Windward Global Ltd, wasn’t formed until May 2017. This is now the holding company for the Bute empire, controlled by Oliver James Millican.
Millican’s father, Peter John Millican, runs the Parabola property empire, with more companies under the umbrella than I was able to count. As we’ve seen, son Oliver ceased being a director at Parabola late in 2017.
Steele was employed as Investment Director at Parabola. He left in October 2017.
Stuart George was also a Parabola employee.
And there seems to have been a fourth departure. For on 31 May 2018, in addition to Windward LS Ltd (Lawson Steele), and Windward SG Ltd (Stuart George), a company called Windward BW Ltd was launched.
The ‘BW’ is Barry Woods. I can’t tell you much about him, except that he’s Irish, and he’d also worked for Parabola. In fact, he was a designated partner, along with Parabola Real Estate Investment Management LLP, in Parabola Partners LLP.
Just like Millican, Steele and George, Woods quit Parabola in November 2017.
He then seems to have parted company with the other three on 24 September 2019. The last trace of Woods sees him running Woods Investment Management Ltd in Edinburgh, which folded after a couple of years, in March 2021.
So we have four men, all in their thirties, and all working for a major property and investment group (one of them the boss’s son); but late in 2017 they apparently hear the planet calling, sever their ties with Parabola, and go off to erect wind turbines in Wales.
Do you buy that?
Something else that gives off a bit of a whiff is that if the four of them had started up on their own, I would have expected to see them as partners. But Millican Junior in control suggests a continuing link with his father’s business empire.
Using the Parabola address at the Broadgate Tower, 20 Primrose Street, London EC2A 2EW is also a bit iffy.
It’s far more likely that, in 2017, the four turbineers started setting up companies in Wales, ultimately owned and controlled by Parabola, to capitalise on the ‘How many turbines would you like, duckie?’ DNS system.
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MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
Funding is a vital consideration because more than 20 wind farms, an unknown number of solar arrays, at least 6 Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), and mile after mile of pylons, requiring connectors and other whatsits, do not come cheap.
Admittedly, nothing has yet been built, but even so, Bute employs dozens of people, rents or leases office space, and promotes itself relentlessly by sponsoring everything from the Ystradgynlais Wet T-shirt Olympics to the Llanfair Caereinion Refuge for Distressed Ferrets.
So where’s the money coming from to fund this unrivalled extravaganza of bird dicing?
We can (perhaps surprisingly) rule out the Development Bank of Wales, a soft touch that throws moolah at magic bean salesmen and landfill-owning friends of politicians.
Instead, our attention must turn to the two stated funding sources: Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), and the local councils’ Wales Pension Partnership (WPP).
The WPP involvement is a bit of nonsense that it’s hoped will give the impression Wales is benefitting from wind power. Though on a more practical and political level I suppose it gives Bute even more leverage in Corruption Bay.
I’m going to focus on Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and see where that takes us.
Now the first thing to make clear is that CIP is not a bank, it does not provide funding. The clue appears to be in ‘Partners’, for it seems investors looking for green projects go to CIP, which then finds them the right fit.
Or it could be t’other way around. Either way, we can be sure CIP takes its cut.
The funding from CIP for Bute is channelled through CI IV Dragon Lender Ltd. This is owned by CI IV Dragon Holdco Ltd. Both companies are based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
The latest accounts for CI IV Dragon Holdco (y/e 31.12.2022) give a list of ‘Subsidiary undertakings’ (page 20) in which the company holds a ‘golden share’. These are Bute companies, including Green Generation Energy Networks Cymru Ltd, which wants to build a network of pylons.
And as you can see below, since October last year all 79,000,000 shares in the holding company are in the possession of Copenhagen Infrastructure V SCSp.
Which can be found at 16 Rue Eugene Ruppert, L2453, Luxembourg, the EU’s internal tax haven.
And at that address we find an outfit called Vistra. So who are they? It turns out they’re a Fortune 500 company from the Lone Star State. Well, Ye haw!
Vistra is big itself in electricity production and supply, but it also ‘partners with suppliers’, which would presumably include Bute.
But why is Bute dealing with Copenhagen Investment Partners which is dealing with a US company working out of an office in Luxembourg? Especially when Vistra has offices in the UK.
Among them, a very familiar address in Edinburgh. In fact, if you close in on this Google maps capture you’ll see the Vistra plate, top right.
The name Vistra was vaguely familiar, but not in connection with Bute. It was linked more with the Bristol address you see above, and Galileo, which wants a wind farm at Bryn Cadwgan, to the east of Lampeter.
All explained in this piece from last November, A Change Of Tack?
Galileo is based in Zurich, Switzerland. It began life locally at Vistra’s Bristol office before moving to Edinburgh. But there’s also Galileo Empower Wales Ltd which has a presence on Cathedral Road in Cardiff.
Its directors are Italian, German, Scottish and Irish. A typical ‘Welsh’ company.
The Bute companies are fronting for Vistra of Texas through Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. The ‘golden share’ in so many Bute companies means that those projects are effectively owned by Vistra.
With an obvious connection via Oliver Millican to his father’s Parabola group. Which we must assume is also getting a cut.
The sequence would appear to be: Parabola spawns Bute, Bute goes to CIP, CIP finds Vistra, and Vistra either puts in its own money, or it finds funding from . . .
UPDATE 30.04.2024: A reliable source draws my attention to another link between Copenhagen and Vistra. There are many more.
UPDATE 2: 30.04.2024: Another source reminded me there are many Njord companies. Often linked to CIP. A little digging brought up yet another, and an intriguing connection.
Copenhagen Offshore Partners A/S has an office at 10 George Street, Edinburgh. At the same address we find Rathbone Investment Management (£60bn assets). A member of the Rathbone family is Jenny Rathbone MS, who sits on the Climate Change Committee.
Her Partner, John Uden, was recruited (for no obvious reason) to sit on Bute’s Welsh Advisory Board.
I think we’re at the stage now where so many Labour people (some I’ve never mentioned) are benefitting financially from Bute / CIP that an independent inquiry is needed.
◊
CONCLUSION
The situation is that through Developments of National Significance, and now the Infrastructure Bill, Wales is being desecrated and exploited by foreign corporations.
The ferrets of Llanfair Caereinion notwithstanding, there are no real benefits for us; nothing in terms of jobs, or anything else.
The real beneficiary is England, where communities can and do object to wind farms. Which is why, as reliable sources of electricity generation are phased out on the orders of Globalist ‘environmentalists’, electricity generated in Wales must go to England, and this explains the need for so many pylons.
The wind farms, solar arrays and pylons in Wales (and Scotland), are also needed to help the UK / England meet its Net Zero commitments. Which I suppose raises the possibility of political pressure being applied from London.
What’s happening is so obvious that I even find myself in agreement with the leftist(s) who wrote, ‘Neoliberalism Has Quietly Flourished Under Welsh Labour – It’s Time To Break The Silence‘. (The comrades love slick and catchy titles!)
Joking aside, and looming over all other considerations, my biggest worry is that even though we can now identify Bute, and Parabola, and CIP, and Vistra, we still can’t be sure where the money for these projects begins its journey.
Which provides two major headaches.
If the Bute funding needs to be ‘filtered’ so many times (with everybody taking a slice) then it raises suspicions that the original funder may not be entirely acceptable.
And if we don’t know who ultimately owns the installations, then how do we get these sites restored when they come to the end of their working lives?
Instead of being suckered by those fronting these projects those pretending to run this country need to establish who is ultimately funding each and every project operating in Wales or proposed for Wales.
We also need to look into the relationship between Bute Energy / Parabola / CIP / Vistra and the ‘Welsh Government’. In particular, how it’s grown to the point where Bute has a position close to being a state-sponsored monopoly.
♦ end ♦
© Royston Jones 2024
I’ve just found this post as I have been looking into Bute (belatedly) as I am in the middle of Nant Mithil and would be surrounded by the turbines. I will be in a unique position to challenge a section of it. Contact me to discuss if interested.
Dear Editor,
On October 21, Wales Economy Secretary Rebecca Evans told the Senedd debating chamber: “Wales has an onshore development pipeline of more than 5GW and a further 18GW through fixed and floating offshore wind.”
I have not read of a single Senedd Member who has pointed out the sheer insanity of this statement.
The 18GW offshore is crazy enough.
However, don’t they realise that 5GW onshore across Wales is 5000MW of installed wind capacity? Don’t they know what that means?
There are three huge wind turbines next to the B4333 at Blaen Bowi, Capel Iwan, near Newcastle Emlyn.
They are 252 feet tall and their installed capacity is 1.3MW each.
Therefore, Wales would need 3,846 of them.
The combined height of each would be 17 feet greater than
Nelson’s Column on top of the Angel of the North.
Another example is the current largest wind turbines on land in Wales; the 76 between Neath and Aberdare called Pen y Cymoedd wind farm.
They are 470 feet tall with an installed capacity of 3MW each. So it would need 1,666 of them.
Don’t our politicians know that Wales is only 8,015 square miles in area?
How on earth do they expect to install thousands of gigantic new wind turbines within 8,015 square miles?
Are they completely without common sense regarding numbers?
Imagine, 3,846 of the Capel Iwan machines entails one wind turbine 252ft high on every two square miles of Wales – including the streets of Cardiff, Swansea, Merthyr, Aberystwyth, Llandudno, Wrexham, Cwmtwrch (Upper and Lower) and every other town and village plus on every single Welsh farm and every national park.
One monster machine on every two square miles of Wales.
How intelligent and practical is that decision? Why has no Welsh politician pointed this out?
Furthermore, the graph on Gridwatch.co.uk proves that none of the wind turbines would generate anything at times and when they do work they would all be powering England, not Wales, because Pembroke CCGT power station, only
opened in 2011, more than powers Wales on its own.
This is complete and utter innumerate, impractical madness.
To add to the craziness, one of those three wind turbines at Capel Iwan burnt out in January and its broken blades still lie on the ground below, generating absolutely zilch all year.
I note that Eluned Morgan did not take Keir Starmer to Newcastle Emlyn to view that wind farm.
Lyn Jenkins,
Llys-yr-ynys,
Gwbert,
Cardigan
SA431PR
Heads in the sand
Politicians have a lot to answer for, and it is shocking (pun intended) that in the 21st Century the Senedd is so lacking in engineering, technical, scientific, historical knowledge and skills that this parliament have not called an immediate halt to large scale wind and solar farms which, of course, will necessitate more power routes for Grid connection. Our politicians seem completely ignorant to the damage that large solar storms can inflict – the latest G5 solar storm should have triggered the neurons of our so-called representatives to the greater vulnerability of power outages due to their myopic and inane energy strategy, indeed, they are now proposing wind generators exceeding 800 feet in height across Wales – you just cannot make it up!
To be sure, geomagnetic storms generate induced currents, which flow through the electrical grid. These currents can be substantial, exceeding 100 amperes. They flow into components connected to the grid, such as transformers, relays, and sensors, thus affecting critical electrical infrastructure, and lead to large-scale power outages.
How many Senedd members are aware that very strong solar storms have happened in the past, and one such storm caused havoc with one of the earliest electrical technologies. On Sept. 1 and 2, 1859, telegraph systems failed catastrophically. The operators of the telegraphs reported receiving electrical shocks, telegraph paper catching fire, and being able to operate equipment with batteries disconnected. What the world experienced in 1859, now known as the Carrington Event, was the largest recorded account of a geomagnetic storm, far stronger than the May 2024 solar storm.
In terms of the internet, a geomagnetic storm on the scale of the Carrington Event could induce currents in the submarine and terrestrial cables that form the backbone of the internet as well as the data centres that store and process everything from email and text messages to scientific data sets and artificial intelligence tools – This would potentially disrupt the entire network and prevent the servers from connecting to each other.
Alas, recent research has revealed the Earth has been victim of even far greater storms in the past, and these are called Miyake Events. These events are marked by a spike in the concentration of radioactive carbon isotope 14 C in tree rings. At present, five significant events are known (7176 BCE, 5259 BCE, 660 BCE, 774 CE, and 993 CE). How long before an equivalent Carrington, or indeed a devastating Miyake Event?
Dave Haskell
Perils from space
An interesting letter in the Welsh national paper ‘Western Mail’ regarding solar observations, from Dr Morgan, reader in Physical Sciences at Aberystwyth University (29 March, 2024); in particular his reference to Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). These ejections of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun can cause havoc to satellites, aircraft, and telecommunications – and of course power supplies. How many readers will appreciate that the proliferation of wind and solar farms, not to mention all the additional pylon routes, will expose the UK Grid to a much more widespread and damaging outage?
This is not scare mongering but facing reality, as during a solar storm in March 1989, the Hydro-Quebec (Canada) power grid went down, resulting in damage and loss in revenue at an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars. It should be noted this was a third less powerful than the Carrington Event of 1859 when telegraph operators actually received electrical shocks! Recognise the electrical equipment in those days was more resilient to high voltages than today’s sensitive electronics and equipment – a similar event today could prove catastrophic for our electrical and technological dependent society – everything you care to think about is now totally dependent on a secure power supply.
Dave Haskell
Here is more grist for your mill in the sorry tale of deceit and corruption in the Bute Family. Burgess Salmon, who are representing GreenGEN are now sending notices under a misrepresentation of S172 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, claiming GreenGEN are an ‘acquiring authority’, because they intend [my emphasis] to submit an application for a DCO. It comes as no surprise that Burges Salmon also represented the Wales Pension Partnership on its investment in Bute last year. You can read all about it here: https://www.burges-salmon.com/news-and-insight/press-releases/burges-salmon-advises-the-wales-pension-partnership-on-68m-renewable-energy-generation-projects
I don’t know when their rights (should they have any) kick in – when they apply for a license, when Ofgem issue a “minded to” decision or when Ofgem grant a license? It shouldn’t be hard to find out but Ofgem are unlikely to be any help
S.172 of the Act reproduced below for information.
172Right to enter and survey land
(1)
A person authorised in writing by an acquiring authority may enter and survey or value land in connection with a proposal to acquire an interest in or a right over land.
(2)
The person—
(a)
may only enter and survey or value land at a reasonable time, and
(b)
may not use force unless a justice of the peace has issued a warrant under section 173(1) authorising the person to do so.
(3)
The person must, if required when exercising or seeking to exercise the power conferred by subsection (1), produce—
(a)
evidence of the authorisation, and
(b)
a copy of any warrant issued under section 173(1).
(4)
An authorisation under subsection (1) may relate to the land which is the subject of the proposal or to other land.
(5)
If the land is unoccupied or the occupier is absent from the land when the person enters it, the person must leave it as secure against trespassers as when the person entered it.
(6)
In this section and sections 173 to 178 “acquiring authority” and “owner” have the meanings given in section 7 of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981.
Referring to case law, particularly Sawkil v Highways England Green GEN are not an acquiring authority if or until they are a license holder and have an approved DCO.
Please send such comments to the PRESS of Wales as well. Please send to Western Mail, Liverpool Daily Post, South Wales Evening Post, Wrexham News, Wales on Sunday, Western Telegraph , Rhondda Leader, South Wales Echo , County Times and others.
If you are going to INFORM THE PEOPLE OF WALES, all you people who write on blogs, need to send the information to newspapers all over Wales, as well. THIS IS URGENT!!
On Oct 21st 2024, the Welsh Govt announced there is 5000MW of ONSHORE wind energy coming to Wales….which is ONLY 8015 square miles in area!!
So that is 1000 gargantuan machines over 650 ft high….on only 8015 sq miles. They will ALL be visible from 15 miles plus!! But where will they put them all?
EVERY ONE OF THEM WILL POWER ENGLAND WHERE WIND TURBINES ARE STILL BANNED!
Miliband is SCARED to do this to England!! Tories are back in the lead in the polls!!
I don’t know why you’re trying to make Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners sound so mysterious. They’re an investment company ( dedicated fund manager ) owned by four guys based in Denmark.
They do the same as most other investment companies. They set up a fund, give it a name, tell investors what the fund will be used for etc ( they specialise in greenfield renewable energy investments and offshore wind investments ) and wait for people to invest if they so wish.
CIP investors are mainly prominent and well regarded institutional investors, such as European pension funds and life insurance companies ( about 150 of them). They apparently hold funds currently to the tune of 26 billion Euro.
Where the money comes from is obvious, perfectly legitimate ( if you believe in capitalism ) and common knowledge.
So, if you want to turn Aunty Blodwen’s lovespoon plantation into a wind farm, you knock up a letter, send it to CIP, and they’ll put the money in a holding account – which adds gravitas to your application to the council for planning permission. If the scheme proceeds they will then start releasing the money into your business account.
That’s all they do. They invest money to make money – like your building society account with the Aberflyarf Ty Unos Society.
Fun fact – as I said, each fund has a name. For example they have one called “CI IV”. Which probably explains the name ” CI IV DRAGON HOLDCO LTD ” in your article.
Ifor, lovely boy; even if what you say is true (and I would not doubt it), do you not see the bigger problem here?
People of whom we know nothing come into our country demanding we roll over in order to make them very rich, and to kick-start this bonanza they seek out money from others ready to exploit us. This is acceptable to you?
I have an elementary understanding of how international capitalist operates, but unless there are real and tangible benefits for the host country then we are discussing colonialism. And doing it to ‘save the planet’ does not make it any more acceptable. How do Bute wind turbines differ from Tryweryn and the other insults?
There was a time when you would have railed against such contempt for us and our homeland. What happened to you?
Copenhagen etymologically resolves as equivalent to Hawker’s Haven – yet another slab of irony.
A predator.
I meant in the sense of merchant hawking their wares.
Both apply.
I certainly see the problem and I object to the article writer’s constant referring to the “self styled” Welsh Gov which some of us voted for, we are a devolved nation with our own govnmnt, which is why I am so angry that our Welsh Gov does not make a stand on the obvious exploitation happening here. We need our own national grid, investment in Wales FOR Wales and any excess sold on to England…
Come off it, Ifor !
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners[ CIP] include an Indian and a Romanian , both financiers, who are directors of Bute Energy.
Now CIP are largely owned by Vestas Wind Turbines of Copenhagen, one of whose directors is Helle Thorning-Schmidt, ex-Prime Minister of Denmark and a current Danish politician. Vestas pay her £53000 per annum for doing very little apart from OPENING DOORS FOR VESTAS! What doors? WELSH DOORS………..because she is also Mrs Stephen Kinnock, who does not have to mention that vested interest…..or the Vestas interest….because his wife earns it!!
That’s ridiculous ! Stephen Kinnock MP and Cabinet Minister shares her income….does he not?? Furthermore, Stephen Kinnock gave a written objection to the PEDW govt inquiry into Bryn Wind Farm above Maesteg, with 4 very valid reasons to stop Bryn Wind Farm.They were :-
[a] TV interference
[b] NOISE [ the machines are 820 ft high ! Biggest in the world!! Of course they’ll be very noisy !!]
[c[ Shadow flicker…especially with long moving shadows in winter when the sun is low . They’ll drive people insane!
[d] Inability to recycle the massive old 260 ft blades after 25 years. They are currently normally buried in landfill.
Now, if those very valid objections are made by Stephen Kinnock MP re the Irish Government’s Coriolis Wind Turbines at Bryn Wind Farm…….how is it they don’t apply to the Vestas Wind Turbines sold by his wife Helle???
Make no mistake!! Bute Energy will be using Vestas Wind Turbines in the 22 .gargantuan wind farms they propose across Wales.
CIP partners are DIRECTORS of Bute Energy….and CIP are owned by Vestas, whose DIRECTOR is the wife of Stephen Kinnock MP ………CABINET MINISTER FOR HEALTH……..WHO HAS OBJECTED TO BRYN WIND FARM ON HEALTH GROUNDS……WHILST HE AND HIS WIFE COLLECT £53000 A YEAR FROM VESTAS!!
HOW COME VESTAS 820 FT WIND TURBINES ARE DIFFERENT FROM 820 FT CORIOLIS WIND TURBINES?? How is it that Vestas wind turbines don’t make people ill?
Come on Ifor !! Say what you have to say in the Welsh Press….as well……giving your real name and address!! Why hide behind a pseudonym???
So Bute and Galileo are suckling off the same pig…a big texan one!
With Pumsaint being the Clappham Junction for these firms, where Bute and Galileo intends to turn off hard road and head for the hills, fills me with despair for us who have to go about our life when these hulks are transported from Swansea docks.
Currently there are 65 turbines of 730ft high, proposed between Bute and Galileo on the southern Cambrians… but Bute’s Blaencothi has not shown its ugly face, yet!
Only last week a turbine blade, which is considerably shorter than the ones of Bute and Galileo, coused havoc and gridlock when transporting from Hull docks and on to site a few miles inland.
With the Dolaucothi Gold Mines being in Pumsaint, it seems that the new ‘gold rush’ is to be the hills of west Wales. And with farmer Jones (Animal Farm) thrown off his land by the pigs from Texas and Cardiff. Then, like poor Samson, the Welsh countryside will be carted off to the knackers!
Don’t lose heart, Eifion. Common sense is breaking out in lots of places. Sex is now biological again; so it’s only a matter of time before reality catches up with wind power, and the shysters behind wind power.
However, Jac, Bute and their offshoot, Green Gen Cymru, are not having an easy run with their proposal to pylonise the Towy and Teifi valley. The good people of both are putting up stiff opposition to Bute’s plans to run 132k transmission cables overhead, and not below ground, on both projects.
But,as a gesture from Bute, the people of Llanarthney, and further on past the National Botanical Gardens, can sleep easy knowing that there will be no eyesore, with buried cables. However, I hope Bute’s deed is not down to the fact that Carmarthenshire Count Council’s head honcho’s ward is Llanarthney, and the glass house further on is the government’s property?? Ask yourself: Surely not?
Everywhere we look with Bute we see bribery and dirty dealings.
I have a fairly technical question which I wonder if you or someone else can answer. Bute has three projects in the Pumsaint area. One is Lan Fawr Energy Park (260MW + Solar), which is between Llanfair Clydogau and Llyn Brianne; another project of Bute’s is Blaencothi Energy Park (244MW + Solar), which is adjoining Lan Fawr. And the third is Nant Ceiment Energy Park, at Pencarreg/ Esairdawe (88 MW + Solar.
My question is that Bute have begun their consultation with a proposal for a 132K transmission line from Lan Fawr and down the Teifi Valley to Llanllwni and from there on through Peniel and down to the sub station at Llandyfaelog. With the three projects totalling approx 600MW installed wind and whatever solar, will a 132K line be enough to carry this load when fully functional? Or there will be a need for a much larger transmission line; or more than one 132K’s?
Bute actually have more developments than they are being fully open about, in total about 1,600 MW of max potential capacity. Each 132 kV line could handle up to 800 MW with the right conductors, 400 MW per circuit
So Green Gen propose just enough capacity over Tywi-Teifi and Tywi-Usk for all the Bute wind farms in the area
On their web site they don’t mention all of them, but do say there will be spare capacity for others, not mentioning that the other are them
If this goes ahead the WG will have handed Bute a monopoly, as the pylons cannot handle any more, and the “transmission corridors” will be occupied
Ok, thank you Jonathan. So Bute have the capacity for their one development and the other two which are not revealed ,yet, in the Pumsaint area.
However, Galileo which has a 175MW wind and solar proposal at Bryncadwgan, have said that they have secured line connection at Ferryside, but no more info than that.
Galileo, to my knowledge has only one development in my area, so could Galileo get away with a 66k line, on wooden poles to transmit their intermittent power to Ferryside? Or could they build a 132k double circuit line and rent soare capacity to someone else?
Fairly certain that Galileo have a connection via the NGED 132 kV distribution system so they don’t need to build anything themselves
NGED have a Cothi valley project, but I’ve yet to find any details
I don’t know if that is a single or double circuit
The pic is from the ESOs TEC Register which lists every connection agreement to the transmission system
Note that Bute will also be building a battery park (BESS) at Llandyfaelog … where the Ferryside/Pont Abraham substations will be. One for NGED and one for GGC
No solar parks yet, but those usually follow once a new substation is announced
Ah, things are now making sense, Jonathan. With this new line commencing at Galileo’s Bryn Cadwgan, and then following the river Cothi down to Nantgaredig, and then across the Towi Valley towards Ferryside.
There are another two projects that are on the cards but not public, yet. Brechfa North is forestry and common land called Llanllwnni Mountain is one, and an extension of Brechfa West is another. Both could easily connect to the Cothi Valley transmission line.
Concerning this battery storage park. I’ve heard that 40 acres of land is commandeered at Llandyfaelog for a substation….and probably battery storage.
We are really in the thick of it around here! Turbines to the left, turbines to the right…and pylons and cables everywhere!! And somewhere in the middle of all this is solar parks!!
This is useful to see what exists at the moment
https://openinframap.org/
If you find anything about the NGED Cothi valley proposal please share
For goodness sake! Even if the power line linking the 35 monster 750 ft wind turbines of Nant Mithil, Radnor Forest….about 7 MILES ONLY FROM ENGLAND……is linked to Pont Abraham, UNDERGROUND, it won’t stop Bute Energy putting massive wind farms in Carms and Ceredigion, both sides of the Towy Valley, will it? They are pre-assessed wind areas!!
Once they have their CABLE LINK……..they will apply for more wind farms. Obvious! That electricity then links down to Swansea to join the Pembroke line…and thence away east to England ! It will lose power all the way. There will be a voltage drop every mile of the long loop from Radnor Forest to Pont Abraham, then Swansea and back to Gloucestershire to supply England.
The people need to STOP NANT MITHIL’S 35 x 750 ft MONSTERS!!
All they EVER talk about are 66 ft pylons!! They are tiny !! WAKE UP WALES!!
Quite right Lyn! There seems to be much more objection to pylons than turbines,yet! People believe that no one lives on the Cambrian Mountains, but many do! People also think that these wind cotraptions will come in something like mechano pieces…they do not. At least not the blades which are one piece and 300ft long!
The length of these blades was the major problem for turbine developers in the past, however, to get round this issue, the blades can be transported vertical, if need be. Or in any angle possible!
In Hawick, Scotland, it took six months to deliver 21 blades to a nearby wind farm. In Pumsaint there are, at this moment, 70 wind turbines set to turn right, and then head for the Cambrians. That makes 210, 300ft blades from Swansea docks, causing havoc and delays for years! Then, we shall see what the local people think of that.
CHAOS is on its way !! Work out the lorry loads using Pythagoras. If a 260 ft blade is carried on a lorry at 45 degrees, the load is still 184 feet long, is it not?
It is also 184 feet high! Can anyone tell me how 184 ft long, 184 ft high, lorry-loads will be driven across the 10 ft wide, winding cart tracks of rural Wales??
There is 5000MW planned for Wales. That is 1000 wind turbines of 5MW. They will be at least 650 ft high!! That is 3000 blades to deliver….plus 3000 stancheons on flat lorries. A 820 ft machine has a 560 ft column or stancheon and a 260 ft blade.
Delivery of the columns will need 3000 very WIDE loads……187 ft long !!
Our politicians are NUTS!! This has not even been debated in the Senedd or Westminster.
Get your MP and Senedd member to ask questions!
Write to the PRESS please!! This is URGENT!!
DNSs are 10-350 MW, except onshore wind which has no limit
so nothing is stopping the WG rolling out a programme of nuclear SMRs, perhaps at the 16 locations they have picked for district heating, except it’s easier to blame Westminster
Have always believed Mr Radford is a frontman for some greater pool of reptiles. Although, to be fair to reptiles, I may have chosen my words badly. Construction industry well known as a place to do dirty washing. Long ago I worked for a lady who was adamant that the world is ruled by arms money. Absolutely agree that as Global Responsibility is enshrined in Welsh law, we should know how DNS are funded.
I concluded that Radford was fronting for U+I, but was perhaps channelling his money through Njord Energy. With Bute, Labour insider David John Taylor was putting his payments through his Moblake company.
I am also told that Cllr Owen Jones of Adamsdown, current lobbyist for Bute Energy, has just been appointed by Vaughan Gething as a Special Adviser.
How many lobbyists does Bute need? It’s got the Labour party in its back pocket. And patted down.
Dr Debra Williams a member of the Bute advisory board is now appointed into a senior role at Swansea Uni. Seems like the green bullshit scam has accumulated a massive collection of political lobbyists, academic “thought leaders”, and bought scientists who are all able to articulate any kind of convenient theory to justify the gross waste of public and private money invested into a technology whose efficiency is at best fitful.
I love the term ‘thought leaders’. Pol Pot was a thought leader, and if you didn’t follow, well . . .
These “thought leaders” only think they are leading the masses. In fact all they lead are the thick unthinking blob of time wasters and otherwise easily led. The “thought leaders” themselves lack serious rigour, just dangerous shallow people given to building waves of hysteria.
Another term gaining popularity is ‘idea laundering’. Like money laundering, but this time it’s daftness given respectability by being published in the academic press.
I’ll give them my underwear to launder. Like most of their ideas they will be “pants”!
Another great post by you Jac.
Just a brief update on my correspondence with Welsh Government regarding the new public company Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru. Still awaiting a copy of the business case. I was informed, a year ago, that publication was imminent. The company was due to be launched in April 2024. I assume the launch is delayed for whatever reason, although the posts of senior executives have been advertised and, presumably, appointed.
You should know by now, Wynne – ‘Welsh Government’ tells lies. To everybody. Over everything.
Yes, Indeed, That’s the only thing they do well!!!
Great bit of reporting, thanks Jac. I think it just shows you what a non-credible “outfit” Bute is when Stuart George has to say he has 13.2 years’ experience of something. I mean, c’mon, who, apart from a “fresher” bothers with the ‘point 2’, FGS? Interesting what Jonathan Dean’s had to say about motivation for or for not collaborating with the existing grid. V. useful info.
There is definitely more going on than we’ve been told. I believe we have been lied to. Certainly by Bute. But how much did ‘Welsh Government’ know?
Plenty, I’ll wager. Just one look at Born Guessing and he has “spiv” written all over him (and what about that 25-odd K?).
The term “Born Guessing” may catch on. Some people are born to lead, others are born guessing!
Parabola is not a well thought-out name for a company, since it’s a curve tracing the trajectory of an object being propelled into the air, plateauing, and then falling back to earth.
Superb investigative reporting as usual ????????
Many thanks.
Any mileage in the whole lot being bought out by the Welsh “state owned” energy company (after everyone involved has taken a cut)? Then the “brothers from the Bay” would have recreated a pre Thatcher world
It might help explain why Green Gen are refusing, in any shape or form, to collaborate with the existing transmission and distribution grid operators. Which incidentally, if Green Gen had an Ofgem licence, would be a breach of standard licence condition 7A
I leave that technical stuff to people like you. But please, in simple terms: Why might it help explain, ‘Green Gen are refusing, in any shape or form, to collaborate with the existing transmission and distribution grid operators’?
Green Gen haven’t collaborated with the other networks. Their licences oblige them to collaborate with each other in the interests of the best overall system. They have to maintain and publish a record of such collaboration. Green Gen don’t appear on it
The technical solution proposed by Green Gen is a bad one. The projections for the electricity consumption in Powys for 2050 shows the entire county needs to be supplied by two 132 kV circuits. It already has them. Green Gen are proposing two more. Powys will have two circuits in and two circuits out. Double the amount necessary, so extra cost and redundancy, all to be paid, ultimately, by bill payers
If Green Gen collaborated with SPEN, NGED and NGET then the minimum, least cost, solution would result.
It would appear that Green Gen are on a mission to build a “parallel” system in Wales, which if it is allowed to exist, SPEN and NGED would be obliged by Ofgem to use, and pay for
Now delving into the world of conspiracy theories, if that parallel system were owned by “the state”, or at least created on their behalf, we are on the road to undoing the privatisation of the utility industries. The trio are just making money out of doing the Bay’s bidding
So foreign corporations are minting it on the road to a kind of nationalisation within devolution? Does Corruption Bay have the power to do that? Or would it be allowed by a Labour government in Westminster to test the water?
All will become clear, perhaps, if it comes to pass
With NGET planning a line of 400 kV pylons from Bangor to Swansea, which may well have to run down the Tywi or Teifi valleys (after running up the Conwy valley) why would anyone want a line of 132 kV pylons, which due to the lower voltage will loose ten times the amount of (“clean, green”) electricity as heat?
It does make we wonder if not having their Ofgem license yet is actually an advantage to Green Gen, as once they do have it, they cannot ignore requests from NGET, NGED and SPEN to find a common, holistic solution
If anything that sounds like a sort of Thatcherism operating in reverse chronological order!