FERRET INVESTIGATION: ‘Local’ wind farms owned by firms based abroad
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‘Local’ wind farms owned by companies based abroad, Ferret investigation reveals
Author: Paul Dobson in The Ferret investigative journal
Some of Scotland’s biggest ‘local’ wind farms are owned as far afield as the Cayman Islands and Canada, The Ferret can reveal, prompting claims the Scottish Government is “misleading” the public over its community energy targets.
The Scottish Government has a target to bring much more “community or locally owned” renewable energy online by 2030.
But its definition of local energy includes projects owned by farms, estates, and businesses, and the majority of projects installed so far are privately owned which means there is no guarantee they will not be sold on.
An analysis by The Ferrethas found that some projects counted towards the government’s target are ultimately owned by multinational investors registered abroad, in tax havens, or in other parts of the UK.
Critics said our findings showed that the Scottish Government was “bending the definition of community energy beyond breaking point”.
STUC general secretary, Roz Foyer, left, said our findings were part of a wider pattern of Scotland’s renewables being snapped up by big investors.
“Scotland’s offshore wind has been sold off to the multinationals, and even a majority of our ‘community energy’ projects are held in private hands,” she said.
The Scottish Government said its database of local and community projects “is compiled from a variety of sources and it is not always practical to update this in real time”. A spokesperson said the government was “clear that increasing renewable energy must benefit people across Scotland”.
