Green tycoon lays into Octopus chief Jackson in wind power row
Row breaks out between two of Britain’s most prominent green industrialists over wind farm curtailment, with Octopus saying it is ‘bemused and amused’ by criticism
Ecotricity founder Dale Vince has laid into Octopus Energy chief Greg Jackson over his criticism of wasted wind power in the UK, arguing he is offering a “gift-wrapped talking point” to opponents of renewables.
Vince posted on LinkedIn yesterday sharply criticising Jackson, the head of fellow British renewables developer Octopus.
Vince, who launched Ecotricity, a developer and supplier of wind and solar power, in 1995, has taken umbrage at Jackson’s repeated criticisms of the levels of wind power curtailment.
Wind farms are frequently paid to turn off in the UK during periods of excess generation, or when there is insufficient grid capacity to send their power where it is needed. This lack of grid capacity is a particular issue in transporting abundant Scottish wind power down to southern demand centres.
Octopus now has a ticker on the front page of its website counting the cost of wind power curtailment in the UK. This week, it passed £1bn ($1.35bn). Jackson has previously described the situation where wind farm owners are paid to switch off wind turbines as a “racket”.
The issue of wind power curtailment is however a huge talking point for the Conservative Party and Reform UK, which have both stepped up their attacks on renewables and the quest for net zero in the last year.
“Sometimes I genuinely wonder if Greg Jackson and Octopus have crossed over to the anti - net zero camp,” wrote Vince. “Or is this just sour grapes over his failed bid to bring in zonal pricing?”
“Either way,” said Vince, Jackson’s “latest rant about wind power ‘waste’ is a gift-wrapped talking point for the Tories [Conservatives] and Reform – who are all too happy to attack renewables at every opportunity.”
“Let’s be clear: this ‘curtailment’ stuff isn’t new, it’s years old and that £1bn headline figure represents less than 1% of our national energy bill,” said Vince.
“Interestingly, it’s also the amount by which Octopus fell short of meeting [government regulator] Ofgem’s new financial resilience test. In that case, according to Jackson, £1bn was a trivial sum…fancy that”.
“Honestly... with friends like Jackson, who needs enemies,” Vince pondered.
Jack Richardson, head of policy of Octopus Energy, jumped to his boss’s defence in a response to the LinkedIn post. “It's about finally pulling the renewable dividend through to bill payers – critical for net zero to carry popular support, as every slither [sic] of polling on the issue shows – rather than continuing with a system that sees developers and generators keep it all.”
“Why should bill payers pay to switch cheap wind turbines off when it's windy and overpay to replace it with gas-fired power, rather than the generators cut their electricity prices and get out there and expand their market by flogging carbon cutting electric tech?”
Jackson was last month appointed as a non-executive member of the Cabinet Office Board, an influential group of UK government advisors. Vince is also a Labour government ally, having reportedly donated £5m to the party in the run up to the general election last year when it swept to power after 14 years of Conservative rule.
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