Yes, I know, I talk a lot of wind. But it’s difficult to escape it. We’re expected to believe the world is going to burn to a frazzle, El Niño is going to turn us all to ashes (or drown us? Both?) – if we don’t cover every square yard of Wales in wind turbines and solar panels.
That’s what politicians tell us. And the people who ‘advise’ them. And those wanting to give us these planet-saving necessities. They wouldn’t all be lying to us, would they?
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MAFIA IN THE MOUNTAINS?
The first part of this posting concerns a communication that dropped into my inbox. I’m unsure of the source. It reads:
We have been made aware that Mynydd Tryfan wind farm proposal will now be pushed back some time, possibly 1 to 2 years and that it will not met the criteria of a SIP but instead go to parish and then Conwy Council.
What has come to light, is that the head of Alerion, Josef Gostner, was allegedly involved in a few misdemeanors. The news articles were online up to at least the 30th of August – but I emailed the journalist for an up date and the articles have been taken down..
Mr Gostner has in denied all wrongdoings but it is related to planning issues in Italy. I have asked Grasshopper to clarify all this.
I should explain that the ‘Grasshopper’ referred to is not a cute insect out of a children’s book but bright young things collectively known as “a strategic communications agency“. And if that don’t impress you, then how about:
Climate change is the biggest challenge we face, so it’s really important that we do our bit and help the push towards net zero.
Yes, brainwashed kids wanting to destroy the economies of the West. But of course, there’ll be beneficiaries. And you’ll find them among Grasshopper’s clients.
In addition to the self-styled ‘Welsh Government’ we see: Taylor Wimpey. Pennant Walters. Island Green Power. Statkraft. Landsec.
But I don’t want to get bogged down with Grasshopper. Let’s focus on the company mentioned in the first quoted passage above, Alerion. Here’s the Companies House entry, and here’s the website.
This Italian outfit seems to have two projects in Wales. Obviously, there’s Mynydd Tryfan, mentioned above, which is between Denbigh and Llansannan, and is being vigorously opposed. Then there’s Foel Trawsnant, west of Maesteg.
A director of the company, and of the UK arm, is Josef Gostner, who you just read about. A German-looking name but an Italian citizen. Explained by the fact that he’s from the Alto Adige/Südtirol, a largely German-speaking area of Italy up on the Austrian border.
In recent years, Gostner has been making waves back in northern Italy with a few deals he’s been involved with.
He appears in this piece from Kronen Zeitung in which the public prosecutor uses the phrase, ” . . . a mafia-like criminal organization“. He’s also mentioned in this article from the same publication, which mentions “billion dollar bankruptcy“. Wow!
There are other pieces available in German and Italian. Also, articles I can’t access in Aviation.Direct. (These may be the ones referred to as having been “taken down” in the original quoted section.)
In fairness, it’s “mafia-like“, rather than the real thing; so we’re probably not dealing with men of honour from Sicily and other areas down south.
The main man seems to have been René Benko, an Austrian entrepreneur and founder of the Signa group. With allegations of donations made to the South Tyrolean People’s Party, the ruling party in the autonomous region, and representing the interests of German speakers.
According to the investigators, the entrepreneurs involved allegedly obtained public contracts by granting favors, gifts and cash payments to civil servants and administrative staff.
Thankfully, such things don’t happen in Wales!
Back to Gostner’s company, Alerion. Which is a part of the bigger FRI-EL Group, formed by Josef Gostner and his brothers, Ernst and Thomas.
As mentioned, Foel Trawsnant is west of Maesteg. Which explains why we find Gostner in Pennant Walters (FoelT) Ltd. Where he’s listed with another Italian, and a Spaniard, as the three current directors. They’re also the three directors of Alerion UK Ltd.
You’ll recall that Pennant Walters is a client of Grasshopper.
Now I want to turn to the charge shown against Pennant Walters (FoelT) Ltd. It refers to 145 Commercial Street, Maesteg. The corner building shown below.
I’m told it’s been bought to be demolished (if it doesn’t collapse or catch a-fire), so that turbine parts can make that corner, and go up Neath Road (B4282), to the windfarm site. To finally reach the site they’ll have to use forestry roads.
As you may have noticed, the loan to buy this obstacle to making lots of loot saving the planet was made by EGMP Ltd. A real estate company based in Mold.
At which point we move onto the next part of this article.
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CONNECTIONS, CONNECTIONS
There’s no website for EGMP, but here’s the Companies House entry. When we look at the directors we find Geraint Keith Jewson and his wife Paula. Search Geraint’s name on the CH website and you’ll come up with no less than 150 companies.
Though he’s no longer an active director with all of them. And some have folded. I should also add there’s no connection with the Jewson builder’s supplies company.
Many of Jewson’s companies give their address as ‘Linden House, Wrexham Road, Mold Business Park’. Unfortunately, the most recent image available with Google Earth is from 2018, but I don’t think the occupants of the building have changed.
The main Jewsons’ companies based there are Wind 2 Ltd, and Tesni Properties Ltd, with a number of ‘Tesni’ companies listed Dissolved. But there are many, many more companies using that address.
Before moving to Linden House I believe Geraint Jewson could have been found not far away at Mynydd Awel, on the same estate. Where we find Engie, a company controlled by the French government, that “identifies and develops renewable energy projects“.
In fact, Jewson was a director of Engie Renewables Ltd for 18 years (1996 – 2014). Another name associated with Engie – along with the obligatory French director – is Suresh Pullat Bhaskar, an Indian living in the UAE. So is there Gulf oil money involved?
Many, maybe most, of the companies of which Jewson is or has been a director seem to link to Scotland (for wind projects), quite a few in England (often solar), but there are also a few in Wales.
Here are the Welsh projects Jewson’s been involved with.
Parc Ynni Calon y Gwynt Cyf. Launched 12.11.2021, “Parc Ynni Calon y Gwynt is part of a joint venture between Wind2 and companies managed by Octopus Energy Generation“. Here’s the website. There are quite a few Wind2 companies.
Parc Ynni Banc y Celyn Cyf. Launched 22.10.2021. Controlled from the outset by ORI JV Holdings 2 Ltd. An Octopus Energy company.
Bwlch Gwyn Wind Farm Ltd. Launched 24.06.2021. Controlled from the outset by ORI JV Holdings 2 Ltd. Again, Octopus Energy.
Tyn yr Ynn Farm Ltd. Launched 02.04.2015. “Support services to forestry“. Controlled by Geraint and Paula Jewson. Latest accounts show deficit of over one million pounds.
Man Coed Ltd. Launched 05.07.2002. Jewsons as directors. Dissolved (by creditors) 17.05.2020. Amounts owed to unsecured creditors alone totalled almost two million pounds.
Awel Newydd Cyf. Launched 11.05.2005 by Jewsons. Taken over in April 2016 by Petersham Holdco (since dissolved). Then taken over in March 2024 by Elm Wind Holdings Ltd, part of the ELM forestry and renewables group. Ultimately owned by AlphaReal.
Radnorshire Wind Energy Ltd. Launched 13.06.2011 by Jewsons. All shares once held by West Coast Energy Ltd, believed to be the original Jewson company.
WCE launched 23.08.95. Became Engie Renewables 27.01.2016. (The French company mentioned above.) Engie London address is Broadgate Tower, 20 Primrose Street, London. The building where Bute Energy was based before moving to Hodge House, Cardiff. Coincidence, no doubt.
Most recent accounts show Engie UK’s equity increasing from £3,108,684 (31.12.2023) to £24,084,030 (31.12.2024).
Ystalyfera Wind Energy Ltd. Launched 19.01.2007 by the Jewsons. The other director at the start was Robert Paul Tate, who might work for Engie Renewables, which owned this company. Another Tate-Engie company was Rhos-Gwawr Wind Energy Ltd. The Ystalyfera project was wound up 26.02.2019, Rhos-Gwawr 26.03.2019.
Ynys Mon Wind Energy Ltd. Another company launched by the Jewsons and Tate, 13.06.2011. The 100 shares originally held by West Coast Energy. Engie Renewables Ltd took over 06.04.2016. Ynys Mon (sic) Wind Energy never seemed to be active and was Dissolved 26.03.2019.
I think the pattern has been established, so I won’t go through the other Welsh companies; but here they are if you’re interested: Ynni Gwynt Maldwyn Cyf. Nant y Ffrith Wind Energy Ltd. Flintshire Wind Energy Ltd. Wrexham Wind Energy Ltd.
Though perhaps Cambrian Wind Energy Ltd is worth a mention, if only because it’s still in business. It was launched 02.04.1997 by Geraint Jewson and Eugene Buuck of Nevada, USA. The current ownership is explained here.
Buuck and compatriot Michael Haas were also involved in RDC Developments Ltd with the Jewsons. This folded a year ago with the Americans in control at the death.
And now, through his company Wind2, we see that Geraint Jewson has new partners.
“We have collaborative partnerships with EDP Renewables and Octopus Energy Generation“. That’s EDP Renewables, of Oviedo, Spain. With the wherewithal (or security) coming from Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale of Hanover.
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The other company on the sign out front of Jewson’s Linden House base in Mold is Atmos Consulting Ltd, a company that appears to have its head office in Edinburgh. (How often has this city been mentioned on this blog!) But it’s not that simple.
The ownership trail is long and tortuous. Eventually it takes us to Cheshire Holdco Ltd, of Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Incorporated as recently as April 2024. And when we flick down through this company’s accounts we read:
Yes, it’s that old family firm in Ystradgynlais – Goldman Sachs!
The address in Harrogate, which is linked to many of the companies in this report, is where we find Adler & Allan. Run by Dane Henrik Vorgod Pedersen, who has an impressive portfolio of directorships himself.
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CONCLUSION
“Mafia-like criminal organisation” (alleged) . . . Cayman Islands . . . Arizona . . . Milan . . . Oviedo . . . Hanover . . . Goldman Sachs . . . my old head is spinning with all these Welsh success stories in ‘renewables’.
I won’t say too much about the alleged Mafia-like behaviour – don’t wanna get whacked! – but you’ll recall the mention of Grasshopper, a PR/lobbying group, in connection with that story.
Working for Grasshopper at the relevant time was Iwan Irranca-Davies. Who lived in Maesteg before taking himself off for a year of travel.
He’s a son of Huw Irranca-Davies who, in the previous Labour administration, was Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs. There was a bit of a kerfuffle over this.
As for Geraint Jewson, to me, he seems to be a facilitator, a man who can open doors for foreign investors. But of course, to fulfil that role he’d need political contacts. So does a man based in Mold, who owns an island in the Menai Straits, have these contacts down Corruption Bay? Well, it seems he has.
Google AI says he has, “historically provided written and oral evidence regarding public attitudes toward wind farms and the operational dynamics of the planning system in Wales to bodies like the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee“.
And he’s also sat on the ‘Welsh Government’s Energy and Environmental Sector Panel. The same source says:
Jewson has served as an external policy commentator and stakeholder assisting the implementation of the Welsh Government’s publicly owned renewable energy developer (known as DevCo or Ynni Cymru). He has specifically advised and written on how the Welsh Government can structure this entity to ensure the economic and social value of expanded onshore wind remains within local Welsh communities.
A man with his record, his foreign business associates, now wants to “ensure the economic and social value of expanded onshore wind remains within local Welsh communities“.
With his record! Has he had a conversion? Or is it all bullshit?
I can’t help thinking this attempt to keep the benefits in Wales is all a bit late. Partly because the climate scam is running out of legs. Even the Germans are waking up to the fact that net-zero equals deindustrialisation and economic decline.
And they aren’t the only ones.
‘Renewables’, carbon capture, and the rest, is a road Wales should never have started down because our contribution to the ‘climate crisis’ is negligible; and so it follows that any contribution we could make would also be negligible.
But politicians devoid of practical ideas to improve our lives, and with an inferiority complex that makes them desperate to impress others, must resort to ‘Oi, look at us!‘ gestures.
Which might be laughable if the gestures weren’t a form of self-harm.
The truth is net zero is damaging our economy and our communities; while ‘renewables’ require the felling of thousands of trees, the destruction of peat deposits, and the covering and poisoning of vast areas of good farmland.
Can’t they do joined-up thinking? I mean, can’t they even join up the different elements and consequences of their own thinking?
And what hope is there when these same politicians are preyed on daily by pressure groups – to back (and fund) their pet projects; and lobbyists – to favour their clients?
The net zero madness will pass, but Wales might be the last country to admit the mistake. Because climate hysteria’s been used by mediocrities and clowns to explain and justify almost every decision someone else has forced on them.
Without this fig leaf to cover their incompetence they’d be naked and exposed.
♦ end ♦
© Royston Jones 2026
Imagine if we crack nuclear fusion as a species and no more mining, pollution or envirogrifters. Too many vested interests will do everything they can to stand in its way of being viable at any scale unfortunately.
I’m working on it as we speak. But if anybody wants to slip me a few mill to stop . . .
Thanks Jac. Great research again on your part putting mainstream media to shame.
A few general comments below on the DNS planning process for wind energy sites administered by PEDW. Project approval, in my view, amounts to outline planning permission but signed-off by a Welsh Government minister. As the detail is not provided to PEDW Planning Inspector invariably up to 50 planning conditions are imposed requiring local authorities to discharge the conditions before construction work can commence. From my experience the devil is always in the detail and it is at this stage that projects can be stopped or at least significantly delayed. For example. Local roads will need to be widened, hedgerows removed and some properties even demolished. All on private land not owned by the developer. It only takes one landowner to refuse to negotiate on principle to create legal issues for developers preventing projects from progressing or at least significantly delaying projects. Ministerial approval does not necessarily mean that projects will progress to construction stage. I am aware that landowners – who have the power to stop a project – will be tempted by the money on offer.
Just my general thoughts on the subject.
Getting the huge turbine parts and blades to the site is a part of the process that’s too often overlooked. Perhaps because there’s a big negative contribution to the environment. Massive diesel trucks belching fumes for mile after mile along roads from which normal traffic may have been banned for a period.
Then, as you say, once these trucks leave the public highways new roads need to be laid, or existing tracks widened. Which means trees felled, hedgerows ripped out. But nobody wants to discuss this. It’s obvious why.
And the problem can only get worse because the 800ft turbines now in the pipeline are twice or three times the size of what’s gone before.
And we have to bear in mind that the existing tracks leading to the site are in private ownership. It is only the surface of a public highway that is “vested” in the local highway authority. The land beneath is in private ownership and if the road has to be widened the additional land has to be purchased. The courts have previously ruled that “vesting” does not confer ownership. The landowner has ultimate control. I’m not sure what compulsory purchase powers may be included in the new Infrastructure Wales Act 2025.
The little phrase “”billion dollar bankruptcy” sticks in my mind because we, or our dim government, are dealing with sharp multi layered corporate entities engaged in an aggressive extractive campaign. If it all goes well the carpetbaggers will do nicely, may shaft each other a little bit here and there, with a very likely result that Wales and Walesgov will have little or nothing out of it. If it goes badly rest assured that our naive government, local suppliers and other creditors will be hugely in deficit while funds will still arrive at some sheltered overseas destinations.
That’s the outlook for the short and medium term. In the longer term, and once the bubble’s burst, it’ll be public money used to clean up the mess. Because those who’ve made the money will be long gone. As you suggest, in “sheltered overseas destinations“.
A rip-off from start to finish.