SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Wind turbines greet the sun.
(Photo: David Clarke/cc/flickr)
How Corporations Own the Wind
The North Sea has long supported local economies—and with offshore wind becoming a popular choice of renewable energy.
Dec 30, 2022
The north-westerly gale billows and shakes the heavy white PVC of the marquee on the Portsoy harbourside, Aberdeenshire. At one end of the tent, a wall is taken up by a row of roller banners printed with text and logos, maps and images.
A man in his twenties with an alert haircut stands eager to do battle on behalf of the Moray West community consultation team.
Facing a half-interested audience sheltering from the wind, his task is to explain the great benefits that stand to accrue on the back of the Moray West wind farm that is moving towards construction far out in the Moray Firth, east of Inverness.
Shareholders
All the data, it seems, is on display in the exhibition. Off the coast of Caithness, in 150 feet of water, 65 turbines will be erected over 110 square miles of seabed—an area the size of Bristol.
This system that harvests the wind also generates profit for international corporations, and revenue for both the British monarchy and the Scottish aristocracy.
These will generate 860MW of electricity, enough for 30 per cent of Scotland's energy needs—according to the exhibition. They will also power up to 640,000 homes and save 1.1 million tonnes of CO2 every year.
The project will employ 60 personnel working out of its port base in Buckie, to the east of Portsoy. Everything about this bright future is clear, apparently.
But it is hard to find out who's actually behind this scheme. Who owns it? Closer inspection of a handout reveals that the initiative is being undertaken by Ocean Winds, but quite who they are, in reality, is unclear.
I later find out that Ocean Winds is owned by EDP Renewables, which is itself owned by EDP—the Portuguese oil and gas corporation, Energias de Portugal—which in turn is owned by China Three Gorges Corporation, BlackRock Inc, Oppidum Capital SL, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Amundi Asset Management, Norges Bank, Qatar Investment Authority, Sonatrach, and 'remaining shareholders'.
Transitioning
BlackRock is one of the world's largest investment companies. It holds, among other things, the biggest single shareholding in BP and is constantly criticised for its investment in fossil fuels. Here too is Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil and gas company.
And then the question of land ownership arises. Who owns the seabed that the turbines stand upon? Who owns the farmland that the cable crosses once it reaches the shore? Neither of these things is revealed in the community exhibition.
The seabed belongs to King Charles III, or rather the Crown Estate, which accrues rental income from the lease of the rights over the seabed to Ocean Winds for the duration of the project. The British monarch is reportedly the sixth largest landowner on Earth, so this revenue is but a fraction of his portfolio.
So this system that harvests the wind also generates profit for international corporations, and revenue for both the British monarchy and the Scottish aristocracy.
This may indeed be low-carbon energy, but where is the justice in this system to which we are transitioning with such startling haste?
This is an edited extract from an article published by Platform.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 The Ecologist
James Marriott
James Marriott is an artist, activist and naturalist who works as part of Platform. He is co-author, with Terry Macalister, of Crude Britannia: How Oil Shaped a Nation.
The north-westerly gale billows and shakes the heavy white PVC of the marquee on the Portsoy harbourside, Aberdeenshire. At one end of the tent, a wall is taken up by a row of roller banners printed with text and logos, maps and images.
A man in his twenties with an alert haircut stands eager to do battle on behalf of the Moray West community consultation team.
Facing a half-interested audience sheltering from the wind, his task is to explain the great benefits that stand to accrue on the back of the Moray West wind farm that is moving towards construction far out in the Moray Firth, east of Inverness.
Shareholders
All the data, it seems, is on display in the exhibition. Off the coast of Caithness, in 150 feet of water, 65 turbines will be erected over 110 square miles of seabed—an area the size of Bristol.
This system that harvests the wind also generates profit for international corporations, and revenue for both the British monarchy and the Scottish aristocracy.
These will generate 860MW of electricity, enough for 30 per cent of Scotland's energy needs—according to the exhibition. They will also power up to 640,000 homes and save 1.1 million tonnes of CO2 every year.
The project will employ 60 personnel working out of its port base in Buckie, to the east of Portsoy. Everything about this bright future is clear, apparently.
But it is hard to find out who's actually behind this scheme. Who owns it? Closer inspection of a handout reveals that the initiative is being undertaken by Ocean Winds, but quite who they are, in reality, is unclear.
I later find out that Ocean Winds is owned by EDP Renewables, which is itself owned by EDP—the Portuguese oil and gas corporation, Energias de Portugal—which in turn is owned by China Three Gorges Corporation, BlackRock Inc, Oppidum Capital SL, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Amundi Asset Management, Norges Bank, Qatar Investment Authority, Sonatrach, and 'remaining shareholders'.
Transitioning
BlackRock is one of the world's largest investment companies. It holds, among other things, the biggest single shareholding in BP and is constantly criticised for its investment in fossil fuels. Here too is Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil and gas company.
And then the question of land ownership arises. Who owns the seabed that the turbines stand upon? Who owns the farmland that the cable crosses once it reaches the shore? Neither of these things is revealed in the community exhibition.
The seabed belongs to King Charles III, or rather the Crown Estate, which accrues rental income from the lease of the rights over the seabed to Ocean Winds for the duration of the project. The British monarch is reportedly the sixth largest landowner on Earth, so this revenue is but a fraction of his portfolio.
So this system that harvests the wind also generates profit for international corporations, and revenue for both the British monarchy and the Scottish aristocracy.
This may indeed be low-carbon energy, but where is the justice in this system to which we are transitioning with such startling haste?
This is an edited extract from an article published by Platform.
James Marriott
James Marriott is an artist, activist and naturalist who works as part of Platform. He is co-author, with Terry Macalister, of Crude Britannia: How Oil Shaped a Nation.
The north-westerly gale billows and shakes the heavy white PVC of the marquee on the Portsoy harbourside, Aberdeenshire. At one end of the tent, a wall is taken up by a row of roller banners printed with text and logos, maps and images.
A man in his twenties with an alert haircut stands eager to do battle on behalf of the Moray West community consultation team.
Facing a half-interested audience sheltering from the wind, his task is to explain the great benefits that stand to accrue on the back of the Moray West wind farm that is moving towards construction far out in the Moray Firth, east of Inverness.
Shareholders
All the data, it seems, is on display in the exhibition. Off the coast of Caithness, in 150 feet of water, 65 turbines will be erected over 110 square miles of seabed—an area the size of Bristol.
This system that harvests the wind also generates profit for international corporations, and revenue for both the British monarchy and the Scottish aristocracy.
These will generate 860MW of electricity, enough for 30 per cent of Scotland's energy needs—according to the exhibition. They will also power up to 640,000 homes and save 1.1 million tonnes of CO2 every year.
The project will employ 60 personnel working out of its port base in Buckie, to the east of Portsoy. Everything about this bright future is clear, apparently.
But it is hard to find out who's actually behind this scheme. Who owns it? Closer inspection of a handout reveals that the initiative is being undertaken by Ocean Winds, but quite who they are, in reality, is unclear.
I later find out that Ocean Winds is owned by EDP Renewables, which is itself owned by EDP—the Portuguese oil and gas corporation, Energias de Portugal—which in turn is owned by China Three Gorges Corporation, BlackRock Inc, Oppidum Capital SL, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Amundi Asset Management, Norges Bank, Qatar Investment Authority, Sonatrach, and 'remaining shareholders'.
Transitioning
BlackRock is one of the world's largest investment companies. It holds, among other things, the biggest single shareholding in BP and is constantly criticised for its investment in fossil fuels. Here too is Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil and gas company.
And then the question of land ownership arises. Who owns the seabed that the turbines stand upon? Who owns the farmland that the cable crosses once it reaches the shore? Neither of these things is revealed in the community exhibition.
The seabed belongs to King Charles III, or rather the Crown Estate, which accrues rental income from the lease of the rights over the seabed to Ocean Winds for the duration of the project. The British monarch is reportedly the sixth largest landowner on Earth, so this revenue is but a fraction of his portfolio.
So this system that harvests the wind also generates profit for international corporations, and revenue for both the British monarchy and the Scottish aristocracy.
This may indeed be low-carbon energy, but where is the justice in this system to which we are transitioning with such startling haste?
This is an edited extract from an article published by Platform.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.