Two of Britain’s best-known green energy tycoons have clashed publicly over wasted wind power, with Ecotricity founder Dale Vince accusing Octopus Energy boss Greg Jackson of handing “a gift-wrapped talking point” to opponents of net zero.
Jackson has long criticised the cost of curtailment - when wind farms are paid to switch off due to grid bottlenecks - branding it a “racket” and installing a live £1billion “waste” ticker on Octopus’s website.
Vince hit back on LinkedIn, suggesting Jackson had “crossed over to the anti-net zero camp” or was nursing “sour grapes” after his failed push for zonal pricing.
He said curtailment was “years old” and accounted for “less than 1% of our national energy bill”, suggesting that £1billion was also the sum Octopus recently fell short on in a regulatory test.
“Honestly... with friends like Jackson, who needs enemies,” he wrote.
Octopus’s head of policy, Jack Richardson, defended the company’s stance, arguing it was about passing the “renewable dividend” to consumers.
A company spokesperson told Recharge News, which broke the story, that they were “bemused and amused” by Vince’s outburst and “make no apology for trying to make clean energy cheaper.”