The latest accounts of the applicant ENSO Energy D Ltd, a subsidiary of Macquarie, the Aussie venture capitalists known as the Vampire Kangaroo, shows an accumulated loss of just shy of £6 million. This is what they have spent so far. And the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) website shows where the money has gone.
There are any number of specialist, ‘expert’ reports on every imaginable topic from air quality, noise levels, glint and glare, soil quality, habitats, landscape, etc, etc. The bill for cartography alone would have been well into six figures. This is what you are up against.
There is a total transformation of our rural areas underway that looks completely unstoppable. The Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning (NSIP) department do not lose legal challenges. Only four have ever been successful. It’s an uphill battle.
The only people getting rich are the lawyers. It’s so easy to tell objectors they have a real case, earn £5000 a day for a couple of days work just to fail at the first hurdle. That hurdle is just to get a hearing to convince a judge that you have a serious case, not frivolous or vexatious.
You then come up against the Government Legal Department (GLD) with exceedingly deep pockets, and a Department of Energy and Net Zero who are gung-ho for Solar at the moment. It’s David up against several Goliaths.
I remain convinced the public would be shocked at quite how profoundly the transformation going on under their noses will impact Rural Britain. Take a look at the list (on a spreadsheet) that NESO (National Energy Systems Operator) have provided for what they call Gate 2 projects in the UK's Connections Reform process. These are large-scale energy generators (renewables, storage) and transmission projects that are "shovel-ready," strategically aligned with clean energy goals, have secured land rights and planning consent, and are deemed viable by NESO.
There are over 3,400 projects with a combined total of 490 Gigawatts. The UK government's target, detailed in its June 2025 Solar Roadmap and Clean Power Action Plan, is to reach 45-47 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity by 2030.
Before the Connections Reform process, the queue of projects awaiting an offer had reached a staggering 722GW. Drax Power Station, by comparison, provides about 7% of the UK's electrical energy and knocks out less that 4GW. Our total existing capacity is 75GW.
Not all the projects on the list are solar; some are wind, and some are Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), and not all of them will get built, and they won't be producing their maximum output all the time, (a solar farm produces about 10% of its installed capacity on average) but it gives you an idea of how crazy the whole business has become.
Bear in mind also that National Grid published a report that showed in 2023, we had 5 times (400%) MORE renewables in the pipeline that needed to meet the UK Government’s 2035 decarbonised electricity system commitment. Five times!!! Two years ago!
All of which tells me the government has lost control of our energy system. At least when it was nationalised, there was some semblance of planning, a controlling mind at the centre of it all. Now the government is trying to exercise control, via OFGEM and NESO, of an army of venture capitalists by pushing on bits of string, and relying on guidance that is loose, late and sometimes plainly misguided.
Our energy landscape is beginning to resemble the Klondyke.
I wonder what will happen when we have an excess of renewable energy and the price per Kw drops so none of them are making money. I read a few days ago an academic paper that suggested there will be times in future years, when solar energy on a bright summer day will be more than enough for our needs and offshore wind operators will have to be paid (known as curtailment) to shut down. The costs could be enormous.
I hope Ed Miliband knows what he's doing.
Finally, the Gofundme page for the Helios judicial review is HERE. If you can contribute, I'm sure they will be very grateful. The deadline for filing papers expires next Wednesday, after that the decision cannot be challenged.
