the energy company.
a Citizen Owned Enterprise (COE)
Costing:
7,000 14MW Turbines x £7.5m each + £1m each for installation) = £59.5 Billion
ENERGY
noun
PHYSICS
The strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity.
Power derived from the utilization of physical or chemical resources, especially to provide light and heat or to work machines.
“Clean energy is about offering people the opportunity to do what's right for themselves and the people they love. It's about reducing the pollution that makes people sick. It's about helping the low-income families struggling to pay their gas and electricity bills.
Gloria Reuben
YouGov data from ten polls taken between 2019 to 2023 show that 65% of the UK population either; tend to support or strongly support bringing energy companies back into public ownership, with only 13% of the UK population either; tending to oppose or strongly oppose. Therefore, the majority of the people in the UK want control over the energy supply.
Overview:
Publicly Owned Energy is supported by a majority of 65% of the UK population.
Annual energy consumption in UK by 2050 to reach 550-680 TWh in 2050.
Solution: Investment of £60Bn into Offshore Wind: 7,000 x 14MW Wind Turbines (100GW per hour / 523TWh per year).
Annual Revenue: £100Bn
Creation of 200,000 New Jobs.
Reduction of 364 million metric tons of CO2 (equivalent of the emissions generated by 77 million vehicles in one year).
The Citizen Owned Energy Co.
Today, we stand at the precipice of a monumental shift, not just for our nation, but for the entire planet.
A shift from reliance on finite, polluting energy sources to a future powered by clean, sustainable, and most importantly, domestically sourced renewable energy. Our goal is ambitious, yet absolutely attainable: to achieve energy independence through renewable sources by the end of the next decade. This is our moonshot.
Let us imagine our modest island not just as a country, but as a beacon of possibility. A beacon that shines the light of innovation, resilience, and sustainability onto the global stage. Our mission is clear: to install 100 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, which will generate 500 terawatt-hours per year. This is not just a number. This is the future of every home, business, and vehicle across the United Kingdom being powered by clean, renewable energy.
But our ambition does not stop at generation. We recognize the multifaceted nature of this challenge. It's about enhancing the capacity of our National Grid to handle this new era of energy. It's about upgrading our ports to become hubs of renewable energy infrastructure. It's about pioneering key battery storage technologies that will ensure our energy is reliable, day and night, wind or calm, sun or clouds.
And most crucially, it's about people. It's about training a new generation of engineers, electricians, and renewable energy specialists. These are the individuals who will propel our domestic energy company from strength to strength, not just in phase 1 but well into phase 2 and beyond.
Let me share the vision of our future. Beyond the successful completion of phase 1, we won't just stop. We will reinvest, we will expand, and we will innovate. Our horizons will include solar glass and roof tiles, turning every building into a power generator with minimal impact on our grid. We will explore the potential of green hydrogen as a versatile energy carrier. We will not shy away from the advancements in nuclear technology, including Generation III & IV reactors, and setting our sights on the holy grail of energy - nuclear fusion, by 2040.
This journey will not just fulfil our domestic needs but will create a surplus. A surplus that enables us to export, generating vast revenues and elevating our nation on the global stage. But more importantly, it allows us to forge international partnerships, especially with developing nations, helping them to achieve their own renewable energy milestones.
The path before us is challenging, yet the rewards are unparalleled. This is not just about energy; this is about securing a sustainable future for the generations to come. It's about showing the world that if a modest island like ours can do it, then it's possible anywhere else too.
So, let us be the first. Let us be the pioneers of a future where clean, sustainable energy is not just a dream, but a reality for all.
Requirement: How much energy do we use in the UK?
Due to expected increases in population and technological usage, it is forecast that the UK’s annual energy consumption by 2050 will rise to approximately 500 TWh per year.
Based on todays energy prices (Nov22) this increase will leave most people in financial hardship and the government handing over billions in taxpayers subsidies to energy suppliers to bridge the gap. This cannot continue. We must act now by deploying better solutions to secure the nations energy provision.
Energy Independence
Energy independence is an integral part of the pathway to prosperity for any nation, therefore securing the stability of our means of production must be of paramount importance.
Today, we are still dependent on imports of oil and gas from international partners to provide us with heat and light in our homes and to power our economy. As we move further into the 21st century these fossil fules will rapidly become scarce resources and key players like Russia, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, Belgium, Saudi Arabia and India will have less to export.
Whilst these import arrangements have been a crucial necessity in the past to protect our way of life and keep our economies strong, developments in renewable energy now provide us with numerous methods of harvesting energy more locally in the form of wind, tidal, solar, nuclear and geothermal.
In addition, these interlinked global supply chains leave nations exposed in times of conflict leading to a diplomatic facade and compromised ethical and moral values. Therefore, we can no longer put our fate in the hands of insecure global supply chains and be beholden to external interests in matters of energy security, especially now that we have an opportunity to free ourselves these international ties that shackle us. The road to economic prosperity, energy security and a level of independence we have never known is here for the taking and we must grasp it with both hands.
Solution
14 MW offshore wind turbine.
Blade measurements 107 m (351 ft) long.
Height 260 m (853 ft) high.
Potential to produce up to 74 GWh of energy each year.
25 Year Life Span
If a single 14MW turbine can generate 74 GWh per year, it would take 7,000 turbines to generate 523TWh per year.
A single turbine of this size can save up to 52,000 metric tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of the emissions generated by 11,000 vehicles in one year. Therefore, 7,000 turbines would save 364 million metric tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of the emissions generated by 77 million vehicles in one year. At the end of June 2022, there were approximately 41 million licensed vehicles in the UK.
Calculation:
1 Unit (14 MW Offshore Turbine) = 14 MW x 61% capacity x 365 days x 24 hrs = 74.81 GWh per year
7,000 Units (GE Haliade-X 14 MW) = 14 MW x 61% capacity x 365 days x 24 hrs x 7000 units = 523.67 TWh per year
UK Energy
A £60 billion investment for the acquisition and installation of 7,000 offshore wind turbines each with a 14MW capacity would create a UK offshore wind company capable of generating enough electricity (523TWh per year) to power every home, business and an industry wide shift to electric vehicles.
Calculation:
7,000 14MW Turbines x £7.5m each + £1m each for installation) = £59.5 Billion
New Jobs & Coastal Town Regeneration
The Rampion Offshore Wind Farm situated off the coast of Brighton and Hove is the south coast's first offshore wind farm. It has 116 turbines with a capacity of 400MW and will produce 1.1TWh per year powering 350,000 homes. It is a joint venture between E.ON, which developed the project, Canadian energy company Enbridge and a consortium of USS, Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund and Macquarie Capital, costing £1bn and will power the equivalent of half the homes in Sussex.
*Macquarie Infrastructure Fund are a global financial services organisation with Australian heritage, operating in 34 markets.
Based on the above it would cost £70.57 billion to power the 24.7 million homes in the UK. I believe that we can achieve this and more for a lot less. Utilising 14 MW turbines for a project of this magnitude would mean more power for less, ensuring that the taxpayers investment would provide the biggest returns possible to the tune of £1.25 trillion in revenue/£450 billion profit (based on 36% net profit (EBITDA)) over a 25 year life span.
In addition, we could spread the turbines around the UK coast, which would mean an average of 65 offshore wind turbines per town, across 108 seaside locations,
Furthermore, the installation of these 7,000 offshore wind turbines would create much needed jobs and help towards the regeneration of many of the seaside towns around Great Britain.
We are an island.
Here at home, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, we are surrounded by bodies of water on all sides with some of the strongest winds in Europe blowing over them positioning us as having the greatest potential in wind energy generation in Europe. This puts our island in a great position to harness this powerful force of nature to build multiple offshore wind farms around our coastlines in The North and Irish Sea.
Over the coming decades, as we move further into the 21st century, clean renewable energy independence is the direction of travel in which we must head and, in partnership with The Crown Estate who own the territorial seabed out to 12 nautical miles surrounding the UK, we could generate vast sums of electricity (100GW approx.) through the installation of 7,000 x 14MW offshore wind turbines, producing enough clean renewable electricity to power 30 million homes, 10 million businesses and 5 million electric vehicles.
As shown in the calculation above the initial investment to achieve energy independence by utilising offshore wind is approximately £60 billion, which includes turbines and installation and does not account for economies of scale which could in theory see the capital expenditure (CapEx) significantly reduced to £50 billion.
Furthermore, we also should not lose sight of the fact that this is an investment and not just an expense. This would be the recapturing of revenue worth £50 billion per annum, currently lost to international interests, to go back in the pockets of UK citizens.
In November 2022, the UK was in the grip of an energy crisis costing an estimated £100 billion in a bailout scheme to limit energy bills to the consumer between Oct22-Mar23, which is £100 billion of taxpayers money going straight to the energy suppliers to make up the difference between the real price and the capped price. Some have speculated that the scheme could end up costing £150 billion with Deutsche Bank going even further saying that it could be closer to £200 billion.
In addition to this the UK government subsidises energy companies to the tune of £10 Billion per year to ensure it has a steady flow of energy.
Every year billions of pounds of taxpayers money leave the UK in exchange for oil and gas to interests in; Russia and the OPEC nations (Algeria, Angola, Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, IR Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela), who then spend their surplus revenues on buying up UK real estate for profit maximisation, the demand for which in turn pushes up the price of residential property and makes the dream of home ownership ever more difficult for first time buyers and families, putting a further squeeze on UK households.
If we invest £60 billion, which is just over half the value of the initial estimate of the “Energy Price Guarantee Scheme”, we can produce clean renewable energy, domestically and independently, without the need to subsidise fossil fuels. We can recapture the UK energy and fuel market worth approximately £100 billion per annum in revenues, reduce our outgoing payments and become a world leader in renewable energy, accelerating a course correction, allowing us to meet our climate commitments to the rest of the world and light the pathway that all nations must follow into a brighter future together.
Between 2030 and 2050 we could go further by increasing our energy production capacity to 200 GW through the introduction and construction of green hydrogen plants that will facilitate heavy industry such as the manufacturing of steel, concrete, chemicals, and fertiliser as well as fuel refining for heavy transport like air and shipping freight, which account for 20% of todays carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.
We should also invest in modern generation III and IV nuclear reactors in the form of Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs), as well developing nuclear fusions by 2040.
ROI: Return on Investment
As mentioned above the initial investment of £50Bn-£60Bn is a CapEx investment in the acquisition of 7,000 14MW offshore wind turbines and the creation of a citizen owned enterprise in the form of an energy company.
Based on the combined market of energy supply to all UK households and businesses (Electricity £43.8Bn and Gas £25.9Bn) as well as the UK fuel market (Petrol and Diesel £15Bn) totalling £84.7 billion in 2022 it is reasonable to assume that the future UK electricity market could be worth 100 billion per annum.
CWF: Citizens’ Wealth Fund
The Citizen Owned Energy Company would be a Citizen Owned Enterprise (COE) independent of government and along with it the profits too. Each year approximately £100 billion in revenue / £36 billion in profit could be invested by a wealth fund also owned and managed on behalf of all UK Citizens.
Over 20 years from 2030 to 2050 with a compound interest at 5% £36 billion per year would grow into fund with a value of £1.3 trillion and at 10% it would grow to £2.4 trillion.
We could then use this to fund: Education, Healthcare, Private Pensions and simulataneously reduce public borrowing and pay back the national debt and associated interest from the surplus left over from annual tax revenues.