What Percentage Of Government Finance Is Fuel Duties?
I typed the title of this post into Google.
Google found this page from the Office of Budget Responsibility.
This was the first paragraph.
Fuel duties are levied on purchases of petrol, diesel and a variety of other fuels. They represent a significant source of revenue for government. In 2023-24, we expect fuel duties to raise £24.3 billion. That would represent 2.3 per cent of all receipts and is equivalent to £867 per household and 0.9 per cent of national income.
I don’t drive after a stroke ruined my eyesight, so I pay nothing directly.
But when everybody is in electric vehicles, how is the £24.3 billion hole in the government’s finances caused by no-one paying duty on petrol and diesel to be filled?
I would assume that everyone will have a black box in their vehicle and they’ll pay according to the miles they drive, their speed, the congestion and the vehicle type.
And of course if a driver exceeds the speed limit, they’ll be automatically sent a ticket.
I can understand why Labour politicians like Mark Drakeford and Sadiq Khan are so keen on 20 mph limits.
Has that nice Rachel Reeves told them what she has planned for motorists?
Their eyes must be rolling like cash registers.
Iberdrola Secures EUR 500 Million Loan For East Anglia Three
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Spain-headquartered Iberdrola has secured a EUR 500 million loan from Citi, partly guaranteed by the Norwegian Export Credit Agency (Eksfin), to support the development of the 1.4 GW East Anglia Three offshore wind farm in the UK.
It certainly doesn’t seem that raising the money to build this wind farm has been difficult.
Octopus Energy To Pour Billions In Offshore Wind Globally By 2030
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
UK green energy supplier Octopus Energy Group has announced that it will invest, through its generation arm, USD 20 billion (about GBP 15 billion) into offshore wind by 2030.
These three paragraphs outline the investment.
The company said that this will go towards the generation of 12 GW of renewable electricity a year, enough to power 10 million homes.
Octopus is targeting projects across the globe, with a focus on Europe, and already has several deals in the pipeline.
It will back developers of new offshore wind farms as well as projects that are under construction operational, according to the press release.
Note.
- This is the original press release from Octopus Energy, which is entitled Making Waves: Octopus Energy To Unleash $20bn Of Investment In Offshore Wind By 2030.
- According to the press release, Octopus Energy also backs Simply Blue, a developer of innovative floating offshore wind projects, a type of offshore wind technology that taps into strong winds deeper out at sea.
- I will be interested to see how much capacity, Octopus Energy builds in the UK and how the capacity relates to their electricity sales in the UK.
Octopus Energy seem to have their tentacles into several worthwhile projects.
They will certainly need a lot of finance.
In World’s Largest Wind Farm Attracts Huge Backing From Insurance Giant, I describe Aviva’s philosophy about investing in renewable electricity infrastructure, based on an article in The Times.
I suspect other reputable companies and funds will follow Aviva’s lead. Provided, that the infrastructure is top-notch and well-managed.
Ørsted Divests Remaining Stake In London Array For EUR 829 Million
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Ørsted has signed an agreement with funds managed by Schroders Greencoat to divest its remaining 25 per cent minority interest in the London Array offshore wind farm in the UK.
These first three paragraphs outline the deal and give Ørsted reasons.
The total value of the transaction is GBP 717 million (approximately EUR 829 million).
Ørsted originally owned 50 per cent of the project and divested an initial 25 per cent of London Array to Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) in 2014.
The company does not have operations and maintenance (O&M) responsibility at the 630 MW London Array, and as the firm only holds a minority interest, Ørsted said it considers the asset non-strategic.
Note.
- Ørsted is the world’s largest developer of offshore wind power by number of built offshore wind farms.
- Schroders Greencoat LLP is a specialist manager dedicated to the renewable energy infrastructure sector.
This is a typical transaction, which is enabled between companies in the world’s financial centres all the time.
- Company A has an asset, which generates a predictable cash flow and needs money to invest in similar assets.
- Fund B has lots of money, but needs a predictable cash flow to pay interest to its investors.
So it is not surprising, that Fund B buys the asset from Company A.
I should say that the project management computer system, that I designed; Artemis was leased to the end users.
This eased the process of funding the sales.
In later years, I seem to remember, that we took bundles of leases with companies like BAe, BP, Shell, Texaco and sold them to banks, who needed a safe investment.
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund’s Portfolio Increases To Over 1GW
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Solar Power Portal.
By any measure a GW is a substantial amount of power and the article gives all the figures for the fund.
One thing, I feel, I can say, is that large grid-connected lithium-ion batteries, as deployed by Gore Street, are more reliable than the similar smaller batteries in e-bikes and e-scooters.
The media and especially the financial pages would have had a field day, if a lithium-ion battery caught fire. Certainly Gore Street and others building large batteries, don’t seem to have any planning permission problems from Nimbys.
Germany Rakes In EUR 12.6 Billion Through ‘Dynamic Bidding’ Offshore Wind Auction
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Germany’s first dynamic bidding process, covering four offshore wind zones with a combined capacity of 7 GW, has generated EUR 12.6 billion in proceeds, according to the Federal Network Agency.
This dynamic bidding process seems to have brought in the euros.
I hope the Crown Estate is going to look at this bidding, to see if it would be good for the UK.
CIP’s Flagship Fund On Track To Become World’s Largest Dedicated To Greenfield Renewable Energy Investments
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has reached the first close on its fifth flagship fund, Copenhagen Infrastructure V (CI V), at EUR 5.6 billion in capital commitments received. This puts the fund on track to reach its target size of EUR 12 billion, which would make this the world’s largest dedicated greenfield renewable energy fund, according to CIP
These three paragraphs give more details on the size and investments of the latest fund, which is named CI V.
The first close of the flagship fund saw a large group of leading institutional investors across continental Europe, the Nordics, the UK, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region.
CIP noted that there is a strong interest from additional investors already in process, so CI V is on the way to reaching its target fund size of EUR 12 billion.
The fund now has ownership of more than 40 renewable energy infrastructure projects with a total potential CI V commitment of approximately EUR 20 billion, corresponding to more than 150 per cent of the target fund size.
The CIP web site gives more details on the company, including this summary on the front page.
Founded in 2012, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S (CIP) today is the world’s largest dedicated fund manager within greenfield renewable energy investments and a global leader in offshore wind. The funds managed by CIP focuses on investments in offshore and onshore wind, solar PV, biomass and energy-from-waste, transmission and distribution, reserve capacity, storage, advanced bioenergy, and Power-to-X.
CIP manages 11 funds and has to date raised approximately EUR 25 billion for investments in energy and associated infrastructure from more than 150 international institutional investors.
In the UK, CIP are currently involved in the Ossian and Pentland floating wind farms.
Thoughts On The Future Of Orkney
This article on the BBC is entitled Orkney Votes To Explore ‘Alternative Governance‘
This is the sub-heading.
Orkney councillors have voted to investigate alternative methods of governance amid deep frustrations over funding and opportunities.
These paragraphs outline the story.
Council leader James Stockan said the islands had been “held down” and accused the Scottish and UK governments of discrimination.
His motion led to media speculation that Orkney could leave the UK or become a self-governing territory of Norway.
It was supported by 15 votes to six.
It means council officers have been asked to publish a report to Orkney’s chief executive on options of governance.
This includes looking at the “Nordic connections” of the archipelago and crown dependencies such as Jersey and Guernsey.
A further change which would see the revival of a consultative group on constitutional reform for the islands was accepted without the need for a vote.
My Thoughts On The Economic Future Of The Islands
The economic future of Orkney looks good.
Tourism and the traditional industries are on the up, but the islands could play a large part in renewable energy.
The West of Orkney offshore wind farm, which will be a 2 GW wind farm with fixed foundations, is being developed and a large hydrogen production hub at Flotta is being proposed, along with the development of a large quay in Scapa Flow for the assembly of floating wind farms.
The West of Orkney wind farm could be the first of several.
If the future wind farms are further from shore, they will most likely be based on floating technology, with the turbines and their floats assembled in Scapa Flow, from components shipped in from mainland UK and Europe.
Political Future
With a good financial future assured, I believe that Orkney will be able to choose where its political future lies. It could be a Crown Dependency or join Norway.
Whichever way it goes, it could be an island that effectively prints money, by turning electricity into hydrogen and shipping it to countries like Germany, The Netherlands, Poland and Sweden!
From a UK point of view, a Crown Dependency could be a favourable move.
Would Shetland follow the same route?
Offshore Hydrogen Production And Storage
Orkney is not a large archipelago and is just under a thousand square kilometres in area.
It strikes me, that rather than using up scarce land to host the large electrolysers and hydrogen storage, perhaps it would be better, if hydrogen production and storage was performed offshore.
Aker Northern Horizons
In Is This The World’s Most Ambitious Green Energy Solution?, I talk about Northern Horizons, which is an ambitious project for a 10 GW floating wind farm, which would be built a hundred kilometres to the North-East of Shetland, that would be used to produce hydrogen on Shetland.
Other companies will propose similar projects to the West and East of the Northern islands.
This map shows the sea, that could be carpeted with armadas of floating wind farms.
Consider.
- There are thousands of square miles of sea available.
- As the crow flies, the distance between Bergen Airport and Sumburgh Airport in Shetland is 226 miles.
- A hundred mile square is 10,000 square miles or 2590 square kilometres.
- In ScotWind Offshore Wind Leasing Delivers Major Boost To Scotland’s Net Zero Aspirations, I calculated that the floating wind farms of the Scotwind leasing round had an energy density of 3.5 MW per km².
- It would appear that a hundred mile square could generate, as much as nine GW of green electricity.
How many hundred mile squares can be fitted in around the UK’s Northern islands?
The Anonymous Widower 