Ah, the Scots. Dang if they’re not nearly as big a mess as the Irish. The only thing that saves them from their worst instincts in most cases seems to be the fact that they are still safely but tenuously tethered to their British mum. Otherwise, I swear they’d have sunk under their own stubbornly ignorant as a box of rocks weight long ago.
Where the United Kingdom seems bent on a foolish and ruinous renewable transition, especially now that Labour’s chief climate cult fanatic Ed Miliband has the wheel, multiply whatever they are doing times five, and that’s what the Scottish National Party (SNP) has been doing up north for years ahead of the English.
A couple of years ago, I had a grand old time digging through the SNP’s plan to force every last Scot into a ’20 minute neighborhood.’
There was a lot of pushback, naturally, as Scots remember from time to time that some of them are descendants of cranky folks like William Wallace, and they don’t like being told what to do.
The Scottish government will impose 30% cuts in road travel, to end travel in private vehicles. No-one voted for this. The rights of free people to decide their own destiny is trampled underfoot to meet UN imposed targets. Next they will come for you. https://t.co/PF7EiTzZMS
— . (@ExecutiveXPin) January 16, 2023
Particularly when they’re being dictated to by a party made up of climate cult racists with global aspirations, who are so inept at managing anything in real life, they couldn’t cut their way out of a paper haggis, for all their agitating about breaking free of English rule.
SNP humiliation as they invest £20m in electric police vehicles but not chargers to use them
The SNP has been left humiliated after it was revealed that they invested in electric police vehicles but not in chargers to actually help them to be utilised.
It was revealed that at least 20 police stations across the country had the bespoke cars but officers were unable to recharge them on-site, meaning they were reliant on partner organisations and public plugs.
This is despite Police Scotland forking out almost £20m on a fleet of electric vehicles so that they can provide “a fit-for-purpose, efficient, effective and sustainable 21st century police service.”
Figures discovered by the Scottish Liberal Democrats found that a whopping 23 police stations had the environmentally-friendly cars but no charging points currently installed.
They’re also continually plagued with endemic corruption, but that’s a different post.
So it caught my eye this morning when I saw a sad little note about a smallish Scottish firm going under. The name alone will tell you all who are kind enough to read my work regularly why it did so – 1STOPWIND.
Liquidators have been appointed to a Scottish company that works with wind farm operators.
The company maintains and repairs offshore and onshore wind turbines.
Via @_HeraldBusiness @heraldscotland
➡️https://t.co/gcv6B238Xi pic.twitter.com/2pSclppTJ2
— Brian Donnelly (@BrianDonnellyHT) December 18, 2025
Well, as much as I despise wind farms and the entire industry, I don’t dance on most anyone’s unemployment grave, and right before Christmas sucks, you know?
I wanted to find out more about what had happened.
ALL jobs have been lost at a Scottish wind turbine firm – just one week before Christmas.
1STOPWIND, based on Abercorn Street in Paisley, has gone into liquidation due to “severe cash flow challenges”, STV News reports.
…The firm had experienced a loss of key contracts as well as several delays to revenue-generating projects, which led to the company being unable to pay its debts.
A total of nine jobs have been made redundant as a result.
A spokesperson for Azets said: “1STOPWIND experienced a number of severe cash flow challenges due to a decline in trading activity.
Oh, well, dang. It’s not like jobs are easy to find in Scotland when you’ve lost yours, and in such a specific field.
But digging through X to find more on this, I stumbled across a gem that had me asking, ‘Windfall? What windfall?’
Exclusive: ‘Incompetent’ SNP blow through almost all its wind farm windfall in just three years.https://t.co/qqfemIpf5q
— Scottish Express (@ScotExpress) December 13, 2025
The ‘windfall’ came from something called ‘ScotWind,’ a bold SNP plan which managed to sever the Scottish windfarm renewable energy (leasing, etc) scheme from the rest of the UK, instead of the entire cost and benefits being shared as they had been.
This way, the SNP figured, they could keep all the riches of renewables to themselves and didn’t they promise a Green rainbow to the Scots.
…ScotWind was the name given to the leasing of Scotland’s seabed to companies who want to build offshore wind farms.
These sections of the seabed aren’t sold off, but leased to developers for up to ten years at a time with the aim of them eventually building wind farms.
Now, the SNP was in such a hurry to auction off these Crown Lands that they went ahead with a price they’d been told repeatedly was too low, but which still pulled in quite a hefty sum for government coffers when the auction was over.
…The ScotWind auction was run by the Crown Estate Scotland. This is the Scottish Government body tasked with managing land owned by the British monarch.
It is this sea bed the Crown Estate has auctioned off in the ScotWind leasing round, which happens every ten years.
…There was criticism that this price, set by the Crown Estate Scotland, was too low and undervalued Scotland’s offshore wind potential.
The body said it had come to the figure in order to not deter smaller bidders, and to encourage developers to come to Scotland, as Scottish sites would cost more to develop than those in England.
…The Crown Estate Scotland said it anticipated most of the revenue from the leasing would come from rents rather than option fees.
In total, the ScotWind leasing round brought in more than £756m in option fees in income to the Scottish Government.
All this cleaving from the UK was done in the name of Scotland’s renewable energy independence, promises of lowering Scottish energy bills by as much as a third, and was cleverly tied to the ongoing debate over ‘Scexit’ – the exit of Scotland from the UK proper.
…The Scottish Government committed that money received from the ScotWind auction would be reinvested in the energy sector, saying it would be spent on tackling “the twin climate and biodiversity crises”
Like the old song says, Promises, Promises.
‘Scexit’ now looks more and more like a Skeksis.
Pretty sure the equivalent of Skeksis are running this country.
Detached from the suffering they inflict. See people as disposable and trivial and something they can extract from constantly without consequence. DGAF about anyone but themselves and their own. pic.twitter.com/eJdHiRgtJP
— CosmicMuse (@muse_cosmic7) November 8, 2025
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney was still singing the praises of a breakaway Scotland, even as his SNP once again proved they were completely incompetent when it comes to running a government.
That sacrosanct 2022 ScotWind windfall of £756m?
I believe the word is ‘POOF!‘
With not a damn thing to show for it.
…Back in 2022, the SNP Government sold off its North Sea seabeds to the highest bidders so they can build offshore wind farms. It was accused by some experts of selling them off too cheaply, and also allowing overseas investors to build the parts and not boost Scottish companies.
Now, the Scottish Daily Express can reveal that over half of that windfall has already been spent – and Scots have seen no benefits with still high income tax rates, council tax increases and energy bills going up. Instead, the SNP is funnelling the cash into its pet projects, like pushing for net zero.
A total of £756 million was generated from the initial ScotWind leasing round. To date £96 million of this funding has been spent, all of it in 2022-23. This was used because the government ran out of money and needed cash to pay for public sector pay rises and to fill a Budget black hole as part of an emergency review.
And a further £364m has been ring-fenced for projects in 2025/26, with final decisions on whether the cash will be utilised to be made at the end of the financial year. It will go to councils to “target local priorities, reform public services.” Money will also be spent on “supporting offshore wind capital investment, nature restoration and energy and transition funds.”
Just imagine.
…“The nationalists claim that renewables will fund an independent Scotland – but they have to keep raiding this fund to support their everyday spending. If SNP ministers are so bad at managing their finances now, imagine the chaos that would unfold if John Swinney ever achieved his lifelong dream of breaking up the United Kingdom.
The SNP is doing the sort of tapdancing you’d expect – ‘Oh, the money’s going to the budget, so we ARE supporting the people with it!’
But what’s already been leased for ScotWind itself is looking shaky. In another sign of trouble for the industry, Shell pulled out of a ScotWind lease partnership last month, and returned another lease to the Crown Estate that they’d taken.
I wonder if they want their money back?
Shell plc (LON:SHELL) has ended its involvement in the MarramWind and CampionWind floating wind projects off the Scottish coast following a strategic review, the energy group confirmed.
The projects, with potential capacities of 3 GW and 2 GW, respectively, were joint ventures between Shell and ScottishPower, part of Spain’s Iberdrola Group. They were awarded to the partners under the ScotWind leasing round in early 2022.
Shell has completed a swap deal with ScottishPower Renewables (SPR), in which SPR has taken full ownership of MarramWind, while Shell has become the sole owner of CampionWind. The oil major has subsequently returned the CampionWind lease to Crown Estate Scotland.
“After a comprehensive review and in line with Shell’s previously announced refocussing of its power strategy on leveraging Shell’s strengths in trading and retailing, the conclusion was to not take the CampionWind project forward. Shell therefore returned the lease option to Crown Estate Scotland (CES),” the company said in a statement.
I hope SNP hasn’t spent it yet.
ScotWind developer Mainstream Renewable Power had its CEO step down after only eight months in the job.
There are also ‘restructuring’ of partnerships afoot at ScotWind, with lots of comings and goings.
DEME, Aspiravi and Qair reshape ownership structure in ScotWind Projects
The restructuring aims to streamline operations and better align each partner’s expertise with the technological focus of their respective projects.
Under the new arrangement, DEME Concessions and Aspiravi International have become joint owners of the Bowdun Offshore Wind Farm, holding stakes of 70% and 30%, respectively.
…As part of the ownership reshuffle, both DEME Concessions and Aspiravi International have exited the Ayre Offshore Wind Farm project, while Qair International has withdrawn from Bowdun and taken full ownership of the Ayre project.
Does it seem like things are sketchy to you? You would think all this recent upheaval doesn’t bode well for the future.
Certainly not for the future leases they’re counting on to pay for running the country.
In any event, it looks that way to me, but I’m no wind industry expert – I only play one here at HotAir.
YMMV
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