A north-west wind blows and shakes the thick white PVC tent on the edge of Portsoy Harbour, Aberdeenshire. At one end of the tent, a row of rolled banners with printed words and signs, maps and images occupies one wall.
A man in his twenties with a neat hairdo stood there, eager to represent the Moray West Community Advisory Team.
This is an edited excerpt from the article platform.
Taking shelter from the wind to a half-interested audience, he was tasked with explaining the enormous benefits behind the construction of the Moray West wind farm in the far reaches of the Moray Firth, east of Inverness.
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It seems that all the data is on display in the exhibition. Off the coast of Caithness, in 150 feet of water, 65 turbines will be erected on 110 square miles of seabed – the size of Bristol.
According to the exhibition, these will generate 860 megawatts of electricity, enough to meet 30% of Scotland’s energy needs. They will also provide electricity to as many as 640,000 homes, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.1 million tons per year.
The project will employ 60 staff based at the Buckie port base, east of Portsoy. Clearly, everything is bright about this bright future.
But it’s hard to find out who’s behind the scheme. who owns it A closer look at a handout reveals that the initiative was initiated by Ocean Winds, but in reality, it’s unclear who they are.
I later found out that Ocean Winds is owned by EDP Renewables which itself is owned by EDP – the Portuguese oil and gas company Energias de Portugal – which in turn is owned by China Three Gorges, BlackRock, Canada’s Oppidum Capital SL Pension Plan Investment Committee, Amundi Asset Management, Norges Bank, Qatar Investment Authority, Sonatrach and the “Remaining Shareholders”.
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BlackRock is one of the largest investment firms in the world. It holds, among other things, the largest single stake in BP and has faced constant criticism for its investments in fossil fuels. Here is also Sonatrach, Algeria’s national oil and gas company.
Then there is the issue of land ownership. Who owns the seabed where the turbines sit? Who owns the farmland that the cable traverses once it reaches the coast? None of these things were revealed in the community exhibition.
The seabed belonged to King Charles III, or rather the Royal Estate, which during the project received rental income by leasing the seabed rights to Ocean Winds. The British monarch is reportedly the sixth-largest landowner on Earth, so the income is a small part of his portfolio.
So this system of collecting wind also generates profits for international companies and income for the British monarchy and Scottish nobility.
This may indeed be low-carbon energy, but where is the justice in the system we are transitioning to at such an alarming rate?
the author
James Marriott is an artist, activist and naturalist who is part of Platform. He co-authored with Terry Macalister, Crude Britannia: How Oil Shaped a Nation. This is an edited excerpt from the platform.
