Dale Vince’s energy empire plunged into bankruptcy after a £12 million write-down on the Vigan gas project.
Labor donor Del Vince’s business empire A £12m write-down on the “Vegan Gas” project turned loss-making after global energy prices fell.
Accounts for the energy giant Green Britain Group have revealed that it fell to a £7m loss in the year to April, compared with a pre-tax profit.
Green Britain Group is solely owned by Mr Vince and holds business interests including Ecotricity, which he founded in 1995, lab-grown diamond company Skydiamond and Forest Green Rovers, the vegan football club.
The group’s plunge into the red was fueled in part by a £12m write-down on the ecocity’s green gas mill in Reading, which opens in 2023, and engineering and design failures.
So-called vegan gas is made using grass clippings instead of animal waste, which produces methane through anaerobic digestion.
“If we grew grass on all the marginal land in Britain, we reckon we could make enough green gas to supply the whole country,” Mr Vince said two years ago.
Ecotricity has since had to completely dismantle the original biogas plant but plan a new facility that could supply gas to several thousand homes.
“A (new) facility is under construction and will … digest biomethane through anaerobic digestion, using grass from the area as the main feedstock,” he said.
The project is currently in the pre-construction phase and will be completed by 2026.
Revenue from electricity and gas sales came in at £467m for the year, down sharply from £551m a year earlier, and the revenue included £123m in government subsidies to support customers through the energy crisis.
The report said: “The government has already stepped in to reduce the harm to consumers from wholesale pricing. Although higher than historical average prices, this support in 2010
Falling energy prices saw the company’s income from government energy bill subsidies fall to £8m, down from £123m last year.
The bills come after a High Court ruling against Mr Vince’s ex-wife Kate earlier this month. He will be awarded more than £40m in a divorce settlement..
Lawyers for Mr Vince’s ex-wife told the court it would be awarded to the spouses, of which she should be entitled to half. Including 5.4 million pounds for the Labor Party.
Mr Vince founded the energy firm Ecotricity in 1995 after rigging up an old pylon for a wind-powered telephone in Glastonbury.