Greenpeace, Other Secret Sources Funding Attacks On UK’s Energy Security

I have reported a few times on the ECJ judgment against the UK’s Capacity Market mechanism. The UK has actually done nothing, and the judgment is actually against the EU Commission, who the ECJ say did not follow proper procedures when approving the mechanism in 2014.

The original case was brought by a tiny energy company, Tempus Energy, who have subsequently instigated legal action here as well, to put a stop to all CM payments.

I asked the question at the time of the ECJ judgment how a tiny company could afford to bring what was clearly an extremely expensive case.

Jillian Ambrose, to her credit, has some of the answers:

‘To be honest, nobody thought they would win,” says one industry source. “Actually, I don’t think even they thought they would pull this off.”

The energy industry transition has long served as a battlefield between power and money. But in a multi-billion-pound coup, one energy start-up has emerged as David in the fight against the industry’s incumbent power-generating Goliaths.

The triumph of Tempus Energy, a 10-strong technology upstart, in a European Court battle against power plant subsidies has rocked the industry to its core.

A shock court ruling in November has forced the scheme, which aims to stem the closure of power plants by awarding supply contracts worth £1bn a year, into a legal limbo that could take years to resolve.

The move strikes a blow to the heart of the energy system by posing an existential threat to plant operators and a “real and present danger” to the UK’s energy security, according to industry lobbyists Energy UK.

Read in full at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/03/24/inside-1bn-battle-against-britains-power-plants/

Am I the only one to find this very worrying?

As the article says, it is rare that eco-warriors request anonymity. It is bad enough that Greenpeace should be funding action to undermine the UK’s energy security, in league with a self-confessed climate fanatic, Sara Bell.

But who else is supplying what must be large funds to assist?

Financiers, who stand to make a quick buck? The Russians? A bunch of green loonies?

What is abundantly clear is that the country’s energy security should not be subject to the vagaries of the EU.

In the meantime, short of sticking two fingers up at the courts, what can the UK Government do about it?

I would suggest a couple of things:

1) Immediately suspend all payments of subsidies to new renewable schemes. After all, why waste more money on the very things which make the Capacity Market necessary.

2) Impose a surcharge on all intermittent energy producers. The funds raised should be used to pay for reliable capacity via the National Grid’s Supplementary Balancing Reserve. Although this was designed to be a short term solution, it will hopefully ensure sufficient capacity in the short term.

In the longer term, UK law needs to reassert superiority in matters of vital national interest.

Read more at Not A Lot Of People Know That