Based in the centre of Cardiff, Bute Energy is developing onshore wind projects that will generate clean, green energy, supporting the Welsh Government’s target for electricity to be 100 percent renewable by 2035.
The company has a vision of a healthier, wealthier Wales that uses renewable energy generation as a positive power for this and future generations. It is acting now, taking positive proactive steps to help address the climate emergency and the cost-of-living crisis, while investing in rural communities in Wales to help them have a healthy future.
“We are at a critical time for society as we attempt to address climate change and the cost-of-living crisis, while creating green, skilled jobs” said Councillor Ted Palmer, Chair of the Wales Pension Partnership Joint Governance Committee. “This investment in Bute Energy projects means that our members are contributing to addressing all of these issues while also retaining the wealth from renewable energy in Wales. This will deliver ethical investments and will contribute to the wellbeing of future generations in Wales – as well as meeting Welsh Government targets on local and shared ownership of renewable energy projects.”
Bute Energy’s Energy Parks and electricity grid projects are expected to attract up to £3 billion of direct investment into Wales, delivering a material boost for economic growth and employment for the Welsh economy. The projects will generate jobs during their construction phase and skilled long-term jobs during their operational phase, at locations across Wales. In addition, we expect that Wales will also benefit from a significant number of indirect jobs associated with such investment.
Once operational, the wind farms are expected to deliver approximately £800 million of Community Benefit Funding to the communities living closest to the projects and will generate enough clean, green electricity to offset more than 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year – equivalent to around 7 percent of Wales’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
“We’re delighted to welcome this public sector investment in renewable energy in Wales” added Oliver Millican, Chairman of the Bute Energy Group. “Public sector workers across the country are investing in projects that will generate clean, green energy that homes, businesses, schools and hospitals will need in the future. They arenot only investing in their future, but also the health and wellbeing of future generations in Wales. At Bute Energy our ambition is to power Wales with clean green energy, and empower our communities through investment, jobs, and skills. We share WPP’s values of long term, stable and sustainable investment. Just like Wales was at the heart of the first industrial revolution, it has all the natural resources, skills and innovative thinking to lead the Green Revolution. The Welsh Government is determined that the benefit, valueand wealth from this green revolution will come to and stay in Wales and this investment will help to guarantee that.”
The renewable energy projects that WPP is investing in will help deliver clean green energy to the people of Wales and beyond, addressing some of this generation’s biggest challenges and help to create a better world for future generations. This investment will contribute to the Welsh Government’s targets for electricity to be 100 percent renewable by 2035 and contribute to targets for 1 GW of renewable electricity and heat capacity to be locally owned by 2030. There is wide political support in Wales for pension funds to invest in projects that respond to the climate emergency, with a Senedd debate and vote in May 2022 in favour of the divestment of public sector pension schemes from fossil fuels and stronger investment into the renewables sector.
WPP has been advised by independent clean energy asset manager Capital Dynamics and by the law firms TLT LLP and Burges Salmon LLP.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), one of Europe’s biggest renewable energy investors, has previously announced that it is investing in the development of Bute Energy’s projects, and, through this transaction, WPP will now become a joint investor alongside CIP in Bute Energy’s Energy Parks.
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