Category: Renewables

Things Are Never So Bad That They Can’t Get Worse

On By JacIn Climate, Corruption Bay, Environmentalism, Far Left, Globalism, Plaid Cymru, Renewables, Senedd188 Comments

First, a brief look at the new Plaid Cymru administration. Then an analysis of ‘Well-being’. Before looking at the looming threat of AI data centers.

This piece is bigger than usual, some 2,700 words. But you know it’ll be worth it!

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PLAID CYMRU IN POWER

Plaid Cymru emerged from the May 7 Senedd elections as the largest party, winning 43 out of the 96 seats contested. So we have a minority government that will almost certainly need support from Labour (which won 9 seats) to run things.

And even though the Guardian might view Plaid as “centre-left“, I see a far-left party. Which might not be too bad, if it was an old-fashioned left wing party intent on improving the condition of the working class and governing in the interests of a majority of the population.

But the working class, normal people, level-headed people, are now the enemy for the Antifa Irregulars and the Hamas Support Brigade so influential in Plaid.

Let’s start by looking at the cabinet selected by new first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth.

OMG! Where’s the diversity?

Perhaps the only one in whom I might have confidence is Llŷr Gruffydd who, if nothing else, seems to understand rural issues. But then I curb my enthusiasm by remembering that before May 7 he was the SM for the largely rural North Wales region; whereas he now represents the smaller Clwyd constituency, dominated by the urban fleshpots of Rhyl, Prestatyn, and Colwyn Bay.

And then we must consider the description of his ministerial role: Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability.

‘Sustainability’ for Plaid Cymru, Labour, Greens and the Globalist left generally means: net zero, Agenda 2030, wind turbines and solar panels everywhere; while promoting veganism and using various deceits to get farmers off the land for the benefit of corporate investors.

But what the hell is ‘Rural Resilience‘? Does anybody know?

Even just skimming over the rest of the bunch is really depressing.

For example, in newly-elected Mark Hooper, Deputy Minister for Transport, we have a man on record as saying that “private car travel is a massive problem“. His colleague, also new, Dr Dafydd Trystan Davies, Cabinet Minister for Government Effectiveness(?) and the Constitution, is equally if not more hostile to the freedom bestowed on us peasants by private transport.

For Davies is a sanctimonious planet saver; determined to punish those going to work, dropping the kids off at school, or running granny to her chiropodist appointment.

If these sinners paused for a moment in their attempts to make ends meet, or hold the family together, and instead gaze up to the moral high ground (just above the sunlit uplands), they’d see Dr Daf, wagging his finger admonishingly.

This saintly individual has for some time been a big wheel (spoked, and fully pumped) in the 20mph Sustrans outfit, now renamed Walk Wheel Cycle Trust.

And don’t get me started on Sioned Williams and some of the wimmin. If former Plaid leader Leanne Wood was Medusa they’d be the snakes. One of the new intake, Sarah Rees, admits to being “a campaigner at heart“, perhaps to explain why she’s never done a real job. Perfect for the Senedd!

Despite the widespread ‘optimism’, Plaid Cymru seems as much in thrall to pressure groups and ishoo pedlars as Labour. The useful idiots of Globalism, a form of capitalism so ruthless, so anti-human and authoritarian, that it would repulse the most heartless 19th century ironmaster or coal owner.

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BEING TOLD TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT BEING POORER. AND THE ENDGAME

Now I’m going to focus on something I’ve mentioned in connection with other topics. It’s the vast superstructure built on the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015.

Everything done in Wales since then must follow the stipulations of the Act. It’s used to influence everything. I’ve seen planning applications contain phrases like, ‘This development accords with Future Generations legislation’.

So let’s give Well-being itself more attention. With this section inspired by Nicola Lund, and this piece she wrote back in October 2023.

Nicola’s work is impressive, and extensively researched. So I won’t go over the ground she’s covered; but it’s worth noting her references to the usual suspects: Club of Rome, WEF, EU, WHO, and others.

The way I see it . . . national and individual wealth has traditionally been gauged by metrics such as GDP, disposable income, home ownership, number of private cars per head of population and other determinants.

But by following the Globalist agenda we in the West are becoming poorer by those traditional ways of assessing wealth. Consequently, something was needed to hide the reality and change the focus. This is where Well-being enters the frame.

Let’s go through the ‘Welsh Government’ graphic you see above.

Starting with, at the top, ‘A Prosperous Wales’. So vague as to be meaningless. And how does a country de-industrialising while simultaneously being trampled on by the new robber-barons of the ‘renewables’ racket and the digital age become prosperous?

‘A Resilient Wales’. That word again. But what does it mean? Taking all the crap forced on us without complaining?

‘A Healthier Wales’. Yeah – with the NHS on its knees.

‘A More Equal Wales’. Which means what, DEI and anti-white discrimination?

‘A Wales of Cohesive Communities’. Impossible when you destroy the economic foundations that made communities cohesive. And how does welcoming illegal immigrants to the Nation of Sanctuary aid community cohesion? This is delusional.

‘A Wales of Vibrant Culture and Thriving Welsh Language’. I suspect ‘vibrant’ here means diversity. Again. As for the language, no one who’s destroying farming, a bastion of the language and the economy in so many areas, should be taken seriously.

‘A Globally Responsible Wales’. Probably means student politics and virtue signalling. More bollocks. The sole responsibility of any ‘Welsh Government is Wales.

“Forget about the kids going hungry, Mrs Evans – improve your well-being by thinking about the non-binary lynx we’ve released in the area. Look, there’s one now, making off with little Carys’s rabbit!”.

Once you accept the fundamental lie of the ‘climate crisis’, and agree to the sacrifices demanded, then you’ll accept the resultant decline. But it’ll be you making the sacrifices, not those asking you to make them.

And because the threat is global it must be tackled globally. Which inevitably means trans-national bodies taking control. The next step will be a kind of world government. But you’ll have no say in electing this world government. For elections will be things of the past.

We’re already on our way to an unelected world government with what masquerades as electoral politics in the West today. At a stage where it matters little who you vote for; as most politicians – the Uniparty – sing from the Globalist hymn sheet.

Another feature of such systems is the ‘Chosen One’. Often a graduate of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders programme.

Back in 2024, in Canada, when it became clear that Justin Trudeau had been rumbled by the electorate, Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England and arch Globalist, appeared from nowhere. Carney wasn’t even a sitting MP, but it had been decided, somewhere, by someone, that he would be the next prime minister of Canada.

First, he was made leader of the ruling Liberal Party, then a seat was found for him and he was elected for Nepean, Ontario, in the general election of April 2025.

Over here, Starmer’s a dead man walking. And so a suitable replacement had to be found. The one chosen is mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham. But like Carney, he’s not even an MP. So a Labour MP has stood down and now there’s a by-election in Makerfield on June 18.

If Burnham is elected he’ll become party leader and therefore prime minister. He might be worse than Starmer, but he’ll be a fresh face to fool the plebs for a bit longer.

What I’m describing is not old-fashioned party intrigue, or political jockeying. Because Carney and Burnham were not chosen by their respective parties. (Let alone the members of those parties.) They were chosen by people you’re not supposed to know about; and the role and power of these oligarchs will never be discussed in the media they control and want you to rely on.

To implement their agenda of wealth and asset transfer, Digital ID, Central Bank Digital Currency, and Universal Basic Income, you must be brainwashed into believing that not only are the sacrifices you’re making unavoidable, but also that you should feel good about making them.

Which is all you need to know about the Well-being scam.

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AI DATA CENTERS

This part puts me in debt to David Powell. Specifically, this piece he put out last November. Scroll down to the part dealing with AI data centers planned for Wales. Mainly in the south, which is a designated AI Growth Zone.

Here’s a section:

One facility matches a city of 50,000’s water consumption, straining drought-hit valleys and jacking up Dŵr Cymru rates for everyone else.

What’s clear, and what no one denies, is that data centres consume vast amounts of water and electricity. So let’s consider water first. For as David Powell tells us, “One facility matches a city of 50,000’s water consumption“?

Though Google AI suggests the demand will be even higher:

A typical large data centre consumes between 11 million and 19 million litres of water per day—roughly equivalent to the daily usage of a town of 30,000 to 50,000 people. Facilities dedicated to Artificial Intelligence (AI) demand even higher volumes.

Do we have that much water to spare? The answer is obviously no, so it’ll be existing consumers, in the urban south, that’ll find themselves going without. And paying Dŵr Cymru more for less.

In Ireland, there’s even talk of transferring water from the River Shannon, in the west, to the AI data centers in Dublin, on the east coast. Here’s a follow-up article from Gript. (Paywall, I’m afraid.)

But what’s the purpose of these date centers? Listen to Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, speaking at the BlackRock US Infrastructure Summit.

But we see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.

Clearly, AI data centers will need vast amounts of water that the current system will struggle to supply. But electricity will perhaps be even more of an issue.

Parts of England ran dry last week

Those who support ‘renewables’ argue wind and solar will make a huge contribution to supplying AI data centers. That’s wishful thinking; an intermittent supply from wind farms and solar installations, even with their unreliability mitigated by Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), isn’t going to cut it.

UPDATE: It’s estimated that AI data centers use 22% of Ireland’s electricity.

Though there are many BESS planned for southern Wales. One by RWE at Pembroke, alongside the power station. Another on the site of the old Uskmouth power station in Newport. A second Newport site is at Quinn Radiators. One is in Cardiff. Finally, one at the old Ford engine plant in Bridgend.

There are many other projects, including those planned by ‘Welsh’ Labour’s favourite company, Bute Energy. Additional to the BESS installations incorporated into the various ‘Energy Parks’ (windfarms & solar soil destroyers) Bute’s formed BESS companies that specifically name; Cilfynydd, Rhigos, Carmarthen.

But BESS are springing up everywhere. One I’m just hearing about is Castell Llwyd, just west of Ystrad Mynach. The company behind it, Qair, is French owned.

No doubt there are others in the pipeline. For as Google AI tells us:

Wales is rapidly developing into a major UK hub for AI and cloud computing, driven by billions in inward investment, massive hyperscale data center construction, and official AI Growth Zone designations by the UK and Welsh governments

Yes, of course there’s a National Grid. But AI data centers are springing up in England, too, increasing the demand on a system that, like the water supply, will struggle to cope. And will struggle even worse the more it relies on ‘renewables’, the price of which is set to double by 2030.

Then there’s the impact on health. Data centers emit a continuous noise. Here’s David Powell again:

Vantage’s Cardiff operations clock 46-48 decibels at the doors – officially “minor adverse” per standards, but stack multiple facilities in clusters and it becomes a symphony of sleepless nights and shattered quality of life.

Google AI suggests it’s even worse:

AI data centers are notoriously loud. Driven by the need to cool thousands of dense servers, they produce constant, 24/7 noise pollution that can reach 55 to 85 decibels—and sometimes up to 100dB right next to the facility.

A problem exacerbated by the back-up generators:

On-site diesel generators or natural gas turbines used during power grid shortages sound like low-flying planes

All this can affect property values close to the centers.

But do AI data centers have a purpose over and above that outlined by Sam Altman?

Fundamentally, AI data centers are being built so someone, somewhere, can collect as much information as possible on as many people as possible: So as to know what they do. And what they buy. Their reading and viewing preferences. What they think. And what they say.

Information is power.

And this power, in a world where oligarchs are trying to take control through making a sham of democratic politics, will not only know your views and your preferences; for when combined with Digital ID, CBDC, and UBI it will be able to control you.

You’ll find that expressing certain views not only loses you your internet connection, it will also mean you’re unable to access your money. (Cash will already be outlawed.)

You’ll become a non-person except to those you can interact with on a physical level. But you’ll find that few will want to be seen talking to you due to the ubiquitous cameras.

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CONCLUSION

‘Well-being’ is obviously a deceit. A form of manipulation that expects people to put up with less or worse for a noble objective that, when analysed, itself turns out to be a lie.

Now let’s have a few final thoughts on AI data centers. Because powerful voices are coming out against them, and even those behind them are getting nervous.

First, the Pope has spoken out. In fact, His Holiness issued an encyclical. And Pope Leo didn’t mince words.

Some of the Pope’s strongest imagery in the document related to slavery, warning parallels between the historical tragedy of traditional slavery and the emerging threats of “new digital slaveries”.

It should be noted that Leo XIV is the first Pope from the USA. I mention that because another American is worth quoting in this context – Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO and Interim Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum.

As you might guess, Larry and his multitudinous investment arms have put a whole lot of money into AI data centers. But Larry fears the peasants will rise up, and attack the data centres with cheap drones! (An update to pitchforks and blazing torches?)

Here’s Neil Oliver’s take on it. It’s worth watching.

Neil also reminds us that the power and reach of “Caesar” Fink’s empire is built on the savings and pensions of millions of little people. Which means that Joe Schmuck in Ohio and Dai Williams in Ponty pay for their own “digital slavery“.

Will the new Plaid Cymru administration stand up for Wales, and humanity, and against the proliferation of AI data centres and the misery they’ll inflict?

And what about the inconsistency – many might say hypocrisy – of allowing AI data centers to drain the electricity grid and monopolise water supplies while constantly hectoring us mere mortals into consuming less of everything?

Thankfully, more and more people see the nature of Globalism, and the threat it poses. While Wokism is increasingly rejected as a load of dangerous tosh. Now the UN has pulled back on its more hysterical climate claims. While NASA shows CO2 greening large areas of the planet, thereby making attempts to reduce or ‘capture’ it insane.

Wales can’t continue in a cartoon world created by brainwashed or unhinged useful idiots where cows are a threat to the planet and Welsh cakes must be decolonised.

Wales has more than enough real problems. Plaid Cymru must tackle them.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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Any, Any, Any Old Iron?

On By JacIn Business and Commerce, Bute Energy, Colonialism, Renewables, Wind Turbines163 Comments

A bit of a departure, this one. And certainly not what I advertised last Saturday. Though that element does figure in this bigger picture.

Rather than focus exclusively on Bute’s windfarm plans in Wales, the infiltration of the Welsh political class (especially, but not exclusively, the Labour party), or alleged links to those who sent the tanks into Tianmen Square, I’m going to look into a possibility suggested to me by someone with a keen interest in Bute and associated companies.

In this piece, after the first section, I’m going to look into the companies named as being involved with a new venture at Port Talbot in this press release from Catapult Offshore Renewable Energy. Which seems to tie in with the ‘Celtic Freeport‘, split between Port Talbot and the Haven Waterway.

From one angle, the plan we’re going to look at seems to be, make wind turbine body parts in the electric arc furnaces promised for Port Talbot, from scrap metal, then put them together in Pembrokeshire before mooring them offshore.

That might be the assumption to make, but the press release from Catapult Offshore Renewable Energy clearly states “onshore wind turbines“.

Which might suggest confusion.

Whatever, the companies named in the Catapult press release are Tata Steel UK, RWE, Bute Energy, Hutchinson Engineering, and Ledwood. So I’ll deal with them in the order they’re mentioned.

But let’s start with Catapult itself.

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OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY (ORE) CATAPULT

This outfit, the one apparently pulling it all together, looks to be an extension of Innovate UK, a government-funded body. Google AI says this:

Innovate UK provides substantial funding to ORE Catapult to drive offshore renewable energy innovation, including a recent £85.6 million capital investment for testing facilities.

Note, again: “offshore renewable energy“, yet as we’ve seen, the statement from Catapult clearly says “onshore wind turbines“.

That said, Catapult claims a presence in Pembroke Dock. In a building otherwise known as the Bridge Innovation Centre.

There’s not much more to tell about ORE Catapult, so we’ll move on.

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TATA STEEL UK

Indian company Tata Steel is the owner of Port Talbot steelworks. The coal-based blast furnaces have closed and it’s promised they’ll be replaced with a £1.25 billion electric arc furnace. Due to be fully operational by the end of next year.

The project has already received £500 million in UK government funding.

Which means that Tata’s role seems fairly clear. It will produce the steel needed for the onshore and offshore wind turbines, from scrap, much of which will be sourced abroad, as will be explained in the section about Ledwood.

UPDATE 20.04.2026: This article on the feasibility of scrap metal electric arc furnaces appeared in the Western Mail, taken from The Conversation. The authors seems to argue that the supply chain for scrap steel doesn’t exist, and UK electricity prices might make the whole project unviable.

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RWE

As many of you will know, RWE is a huge German company involved in ‘renewable’ energy. Let’s also remember that RWE is a big player in Wales.

RWE is the largest power producer and renewable energy generator in Wales, with more than 3GW of energy across 12 sites. Brechfa Forest West Wind Farm comprises of 28 turbines – enough to power 40,000 homes. The site has produced over 1.05TWh of energy since it was commissioned in 2018.

RWE’s Head of Onshore Development: Wales & England is Eleri Davies. She also sits on the UK government’s Onshore Wind Industry Taskforce. As we are reminded in this press release from her company:

As a member of the Government’s newly created Onshore Wind Industry Taskforce, it was incredibly valuable to show the Prime Minister and First Minister how RWE works with and for local communities, harnessing homegrown talent and supporting local communities.

UK Operational Manager for RWE is Nia Griffiths. So there’s a definite Welsh flavour to RWE. At least in senior staff. Of course the money goes back to Germany.

And it seems RWE already has a presence in Port Talbot at the Baglan Innovation Centre. While in 2022 it struck a deal with Associated British Ports, owners of Port Talbot docks, an agreement that also covers Milford Haven.

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BUTE ENERGY

Bute Energy appears for obvious reasons. First, wanting to plaster rural Wales with wind turbines and pylons. Second, because this company has bought up ‘Welsh’ Labour and is not without influence within the party at UK level.

But for the purposes of this piece, I think we should concentrate on warehouses.

I touched on this subject briefly with a post back in August 2024 after receiving information from Scotland. It’s here in Parabola Bute Energy, Scottish Echoes. The Bute Boys, using the company Windward Titan Ltd, bought a huge warehouse (below) near Glasgow, then sold it three years later, for double the price paid, to the Lothian Pension Fund; essentially, Labour-run Edinburgh City Council.

Does Bute getting money from Labour-controlled pension funds sound familiar?

Further information received last month, from a different source, suggested Bute companies – often under the ‘Windward’ label – have quite a few warehouses ” . . . in Wales and Scotland filled to the rafters with BESS and pylon materials“.

These have been bought with the help of private bank Brown Shipley & Co Ltd, ultimately owned by the Al Thani family, which also owns Qatar.

I dealt with this a few weeks back in The Windward-Bute Empire, Fresh Insights.

So the question is, why would Bute need all this space, and why are some of these warehouses chock full of pylon components and other equipment for onshore wind turbine installations?

Also note, the insider who contacted me last month made no mention of the actual turbines. Neither towers nor blades. For which I might have an explanation.

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HUTCHINSON ENGINEERING

This company has also appeared on this blog quite recently. In a piece I put out in January. (Skip the first section.)

I started out back then by wondering, in a post on X, why a company in Cornwall called Inyanga Marine Energy Group had received £2,000,000 from our wonderful, and now thankfully departed, ‘Welsh Government’.

The man behind Inyanga, Richard James Parkinson, has other companies named HydroWing and Sangoma. All hoping to generate power from wave energy. Explained in the earlier blog piece I’ve linked to. But there seems to be no money, apart from public funding, and little sign of activity.

Though I did find this piece in the Falmouth Packet, which introduces Hutchinson.

Inyanga Marine Energy Group, based in Penryn, has tasked Hutchinson Engineering with constructing its HydroWing tidal energy device.

The 20 MW HydroWing tidal energy array will be deployed at Morlais, off Anglesey in Wales.

Naturally, my attention then turned to Hutchinson Engineering of Cheshire. Here’s the Companies House entry. You’ll see that ownership rests with Modernuser Ltd. In turn owned by Dean Clark Drinkwater.

And here’s Dean, a fan of both Starmer and Miliband!

What’s more, Drinkwater has also been appointed to the UK Government’s Onshore Wind Industry Taskforce, chaired by ‘Mad Ed’ Miliband.

It would appear that Dean is another who’s well in with the Labour party.

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LEDWOOD

Ledwood Mechanical Engineering Ltd, based in Pembroke Dock, is owned by Ledwood Protective Coatings Ltd, which is in turn owned by Nicholas David Revell, and may rely to a great extent on a loan from the ‘Welsh Government’-controlled Development Bank of Wales.

Another Revell company is Ledwood Holdings Ltd. Revell has a further company, LSM Holdings Ltd. (‘Ledwood Scrap Metals’?)

I suggest that name due to this reference in the LSM accounts, and where it leads.

Nick Revell, also gets a mention in this press release from January 2025 from the Wales Office, not ‘Welsh Government’. Again, the “Celtic Freeport” is mentioned.

Bluecap Resources Ltd, highlighted in the clip above, is based in Newport. But with its R&D in Penryn, Cornwall where, you’ve just read, we also find Inyanga, builder of wave energy machines, and beneficiary of ‘Welsh Government’ largesse.

The company is owned by:

 . . . a consortium of European shareholders from the natural resources industry, both corporate and individual, including two publicly-quoted companies . . .

(Here are the Bluecap Resources shareholders.)

Yet the website tells us very little. But if we turn to the filings with Companies House we see big share issues in recent years – all in US dollars.

Bluecap is in the business of “extraction and recovery“. That it uses US dollars suggests to me it conducts much of its business outside of the UK. A belief reinforced by the company Bluecap Poland Ltd, formerly known as Bluecap Turkey Ltd.

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THE THEORY

Someone who’s given the consortium some thought has suggested to me a theory. Which, after doing some research of my own, I find both elegant and plausible.

It all hinges on the electric arc furnace at Port Talbot. On it being built, and then on that furnace using scrap material. This explains Tata Steel’s presence in the consortium.

The scrap will be provided by Ledwood-Bluecap. And will almost certainly come from outside of the UK. That’s why they’re involved.

That scrap material will be smelted at Port Talbot, a magical process to transform it into the “UK Steel” promised in the headline of the Energy-pedia article.

Next, it will be knocked into the shapes and sections desired for 250 metre tall wind turbines by Hutchinson Engineering of Cheshire, who might set up an operation in Wales, or co-operate with a locally-based company.

If my Bute source is correct about the warehouses being “filled to the rafters with BESS and pylon materials”, then Windward-Bute can supply pylons and the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). This is one reason why Bute is involved.

RWE might provide the motors and other mechanisms required by the wind turbines. Then again, as a major player, RWE may be thinking ahead to replacing its clapped-out turbines, even erecting new ones.

Alternatively, the blades might come from somewhere else.

For the largest manufacturer of turbine blades in Europe is Danish company Vestas. A director of Vestas is former Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Her alter ego is Mrs Kinnock, for she’s married to Stephen Kinnock MP, in whose Aberafan Maesteg constituency we find Port Talbot steelworks.

Furthermore, Vestas has a 25% stake in Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), which seems to be Bute Energy’s main financial backer.

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CONCLUSION

Let’s start by remembering that in the Ore Catapult press release we read that the consortium involved is “largely based in Wales“.

Yet Tata Steel is an Indian company. RWE German. Bute Energy is Scottish. Hutchinson Engineering is an English company. Ledwood and Bluecap have addresses in Newport, but source their scrap metal from God knows where.

Pushing this lot as Welsh is like describing the German army in September 1939 as Polish because it was “largely based in Poland“.

And as if that idiocy wasn’t enough, remember that almost all the electricity that’ll be generated will go to England!

If the theory is correct, or only partly correct, we can clearly see who’s going to benefit from turning scrap metal into wind turbine parts, and who’ll make money from supplying whatever else is needed.

It’ll be the same faces that have been ripping Wales off for too long.

There might be a few hundred jobs at Port Talbot, small compensation for the thousands lost. A few hauliers might get contracts. The turbines and pylons will be erected by specialist crews brought in from outside.

But let’s not forget – it might keep Kinnock Jnr in a job.

Yet we’ll have to put up with the ugly bloody turbines and pylons, and you can bet your sweet life that whatever the colour of the ‘Welsh Government’ after May 7 – we’ll be paying out plenty in public money.

All done so that demented individuals in Plaid Cymru, for whom politics is all gestures, who prefer ‘positions’ over policies that would benefit the long-suffering Welsh people, can claim that Wales is a “world leader” – in being exploited.

For God’s sake, don’t vote for these clowns!

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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The Windward-Bute Empire, Fresh Insights

On By JacIn Bute Energy, Corruption Bay, Renewables, Welsh Labour90 Comments

I had something else planned to go out on Monday, but I’ve held it back in light of fresh information I’ve received about the activities of Bute Energy. Information that raises wider considerations.

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INTRODUCTION

Let me start with an apology. I’ve been writing about Bute’s activities in Wales for seven or eight years. This meant ignoring projects elsewhere, and overlooking Bute and Windward companies that had no obvious Welsh connection.

That may have been a mistake. And in view of recent events suggesting dubious links with China, no longer tenable. Dealt with on this blog.

Apology made, one company I have mentioned, one I could never make sense of, was Storagefolk Ltd. Presumably involved in . . . warehousing?

Launched 23.09.2017 Storagefolk appears to be the oldest surviving Windward-Bute company apart from Windward Enterprises Ltd (until very recently Windward Global), the ultimate holding company, where Oliver James Millican, capo di tutti capi in the W-B world, is in sole charge.

But what’s its purpose, and how does it fit into the wider empire? Information received offers some answers. And opens up a new line of inquiry.

As you can see from the Companies House entry for Storagefolk the address is in Mayfair, that upmarket district of London. The sole director is Millican. But he gives his address as Hodge House in Cardiff, where we find virtually all the companies relevant to Wales. Or at least, those we know about.

Listed as ‘person with significant control‘ (PSC) is Windward Global Ltd.

Though if we go through the main CH listing for Millican’s companies we see Storagefolk using the Hodge House address. (More Millican companies are listed here, here, here, and here.)

At the address in Curzon Street, hosting Storagefolk, we find Turcan Connell Company Secretaries Ltd. Scottish legal eagles with their HQ in Edinburgh. A company regularly used by Millican and his mates.

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MY! WHAT A BIG WAREHOUSE YOU’VE GOT. AND SO MANY OF THEM!

Of the companies registered at that address, we’re interested in the ones shown in the panel below. Particularly those to which I’ve been directed. (Storagefolk appears on the previous page.)

Beginning with Windward Eurocentral MD Ltd. Sole director Oliver Millican. PSC is Windward RE Holdco Ltd (more on this company later). PSC for Windward RE Holdco Ltd is Windward Enterprises Ltd, the ultimate holding company mentioned earlier.

Turn to the charges and you’ll see one taken out in July 2023 and satisfied in April 2025. The lender was private bank Brown Shipley & Co Ltd. Brown Shipley is owned by Quintet Private Bank (Europe) SA of Luxembourg, which is in turn owned by Precision Capital:

Precision Capital is a Luxembourg-based holding company that represents the private interests of members of the Al-Thani family of Qatar.

The charge was against a building just to the east of Glasgow, close to the M8 that runs to Edinburgh. A property offering 127,000 square foot of space.

The next company is Windward Badentoy Ltd. Directors are Millican and TC Directors Ltd with an Edinburgh address. ‘TC’ of course is Turcan Connell again. The PSC is Windward RE Holdco 2 Ltd.

The charges, again with Brown Shipley, refer to industrial storage units such as this one, all near Aberdeen. Plus a floating charge.

The third is Windward RE Project Co 1 Ltd. Here are the players. It’s the Mayfair address with PSC again being Windward RE Holdco 2 Ltd. There are/were two outstanding charges with Brown Shipley. One a fixed and floating charge, the other refers to three properties in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Another company worth looking at is Windward Z3B Ltd, with the same pattern. Funding from Brown Shipley for two more storage facilities on industrial or technology parks around Aberdeen.

And there was another company, one that I wrote about in August 2024. And other warehouse not far from the M8.

It was reported on October 2, 2018 that the Titan warehouse had been bought for £6.5M by Grayling Capital. This is Grayling Capital LLP, formed just over a year earlier.

David Taylor, one of those recently questioned by police in relation to China ‘spying’, was made a partner in Grayling Capital LLP in September 2019.

I could go on, but you should get the picture. Companies in the W-B empire have, for perhaps a decade, been buying up big warehouses, often borrowing from a ’boutique’ bank owned by an oil-rich family in Qatar.

A name mentioned in connection with W-B’s activity in the Aberdeen area is IKM. Said to be a tenant of properties owned by Windward-Bute. Here’s a piece from December last year and the Aberdeen Press & Journal.

In another major milestone, IKM Testing UK today opens its third facility as it pushes ahead with plans to expand into international markets, the renewables sector and increase its UK decommissioning work.

But IKM only accounts for some of W-B’s real estate, so the question remains: Why does it need all this storage space?

◊

PLANNING AHEAD?

First, let me clear up the purpose of Storagefolk before telling you how Windward-Bute buying up vast areas of storage space was explained to me:

(Storagefolk) is purely a negotiating shell for projects in Scotland and NE England; it is used in proposals to financiers, a distinct legal entity is then formed post-investment decision to ring fence properties and interests – and distance from the risk of course.

As for the warehouses, it seems that W-B has been importing parts and components for turbines, solar installations, and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) for quite a few years.

This stockpiling is in anticipation of a crackdown on imported parts for ‘renewable’ energy projects. This seems plausible as the opposition mounts to increasing energy prices resulting from ‘Mad’ Ed Miliband’s Net Zero death-wish.

The real estate arm of the Windward portfolio . . . is working with multiple overseas businesses and at least one national government to house interests and commodity items relating to renewables infrastructure. There are warehouses in Wales and Scotland filled to the rafters with BESS and pylon materials – rented and landed for resale exclusively to the UK market to artificially appear to restrict overseas procurement and brand it as available when supply chains pinch in the late 2027 to early 2029 drive.

Is it just forward planning, or is there more to it?

As an example of ‘more to it’, can we assume these imports come from China? I’d put a few quid on it. And if I’ve picked the right nag, then this explains a few other things.

For as we’ve recently learnt, it’s impossible to escape the China connection when dealing with Windward-Bute. So I was not surprised to be told that two of the Big Three (Oliver James Millican, Stuart Allan George, and Lawson Douglas Steel) have even stated they’d sell to “interested parties from China at the right price“.

But none of these machinations would be possible without political influence, and that influence is not confined to Labour in Wales.

Let’s remember that Tom Watson, former deputy leader of the UK Labour party, now Baron Watson of Wyre Forest, is a non-executive director of Windward Energy Ltd, where he’s listed as plain old Thomas Anthony Watson.

It’s suggested this provides a good connection through Great British Energy to ‘Mad’ Ed Miliband himself, the apostle of Net Zero, de-industrialisation, and electricity consumer impoverishment.

To sum up: there is a concerted effort not only to increase expenditure and reliance on ‘renewables’, but also to remove cheaper and more reliable alternatives. This explains why the UK is closing down North Sea oil and gas . . . only to buy from Norway, which extracts from the same North Sea source.

Proving it has sod all to do with saving the planet.

This is the ugly world inhabited by Windward-Bute. It’s not limited to wind turbines despoiling landscapes, it’s about using political influence to remove competition providing more reliable and cheaper alternatives.

In Wales, this has resulted in the infiltration of the Labour party to the point where it’s hopelessly compromised. Election posters for May’s Senedd elections should read: ‘Vote for Dai Jones – your Bute Welsh Labour candidate‘.

We know W-B is also making inroads into Plaid Cymru. The Greens were always on side. But does it end there?

Maybe not.

◊

TITBITS, THOUGHTS

In this section I’ll look at a few other items that have come my way and how they perhaps fit with what we already knew.

First, I’m told that Nigel Farage had a closed-door meeting in January with Windward Energy Ltd Chairman Steve Scrimshaw. So let’s have a statement from Reform on where it stands on ‘renewable energy’ and rising electricity prices.

More closed door negotiations preceded the decision by the Wales Pension Partnership to invest £68m (for starters?) in Windward-Bute. A source says that very influential in the ultimate decision was Cardiff Lib Dem councillor Rhys Taylor.

Taylor of course sits on the council’s Pensions Committee, but I bet you can’t guess where his day job is. Let me help . . .

So we see that Windward-Bute also has its claws into the Lib Dems.

Leaving Gwlad the only honest party left.

I’m told the investigations into Taylor and Aplin might result in a number of Senedd Members, MSPs and MPs being invited to ‘help police with their inquiries’.

Understandably, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), the main funders for W-B’s renewable energy projects, is said to be pissed off by the recent news and allegations of spying for China.

Which provides yet another link to ‘Welsh’ Labour. Through Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Danish PM, her directorship of Vestas since 2019, and that company’s 25% stake in CIP.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the wife of Stephen Kinnock, MP for Aberavon Maesteg. He is of course the son of former Labour party leader now Baron Kinnock of Bedwellty in the County of Gwent, and the late Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, long-time Member of the European Parliament.

Her seat on the Brussels gravy-train was taken by Derek Vaughan who, following Brexit, was given a non-job by Windward-Bute on its Welsh Advisory Board.

Kinnock the Younger’s constituency is home to Port Talbot steelworks, so recently and shamelessly allowed to die. Welcomed in certain circles because it reduces Wales’ output of some evil dreamed up by Greenhairs.

∼

I’m going to throw out an idea that might sound outrageous, yet it’s plausible. Just think about it.

Millican, Steele and George all worked for real estate outfit Parabola, where Millican’s father Peter is head man. They all left Parabola towards the end of 2017. (Or that’s what we’re encouraged to believe.)

They had no experience in ‘renewables’; and to my knowledge they’ve still not erected a single turbine. Certainly not in Wales. But is this missing the point?

They now have sites designated, landowners signed up, planning applications submitted, politicians and others bought, financial backing for the projects arranged, and warehouses stacked to the gunwales with the wherewithal to complete the projects.

So if Windward-Bute only gets half or less of the planning consents applied for – even no planning approval at all – they could still sell up and make a massive profit. Especially if the anticipated crackdown on (recently) imported parts comes into play and the components they bought years ago rocket in price.

Maybe that was always the business model. Not actually building anything.

If nothing else, it’ll be a very lucrative fall-back position.

◊

CONCLUSION

Windward-Bute has corrupted Welsh political and public life. And it was so predictable.

With a form of devolved government designed to fail. And with ‘progressive’ politicians too stupid and gullible to have made even a good model work.

Made worse by those same politicians seriously believing Wales alone could save a planet being destroyed by humans – and their farting cows!

Politicians believing that lobbyists and pressure groups should determine policies, and that they should be able to do so free from regulation or restraint.

Resulting in overlapping and incestuous circles in one relatively small city, circles of perhaps no more than two or three thousand people in total, damaging the lives of over three million people.

This shit-show was bound to attract the kinds of ‘developers’ we’ve seen over the past 27 years. With Windward-Bute perhaps the worst, the most pernicious example.

Windward-Bute already has the shadow of ‘China spying’ hanging over it, and the stain of buying political influence, but it doesn’t end there.

The West’s lemming-like rush over the cliff of ‘renewables’ isn’t just good news for China, on which we depend for everything from rare earth minerals to completed solar panels; it’s also welcomed in the oil-rich Gulf states because ‘renewables’ are also unreliables, and need back-up.

Some might think that a UK-based company or individuals enriching themselves from helping de-industrialise and impoverish the West is tantamount to treason.

And I would agree. For ‘renewables’ are a response to nothing but avarice.

♦ end ♦

© Royston Jones 2026

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