Pension Fund was asked to consider withdrawing £10m from energy group

Richard Youle – Local Democracy Reporter

A large public sector pension fund can’t withdraw £10 million it’s investing in a renewable energy group which has links through a parent company to a developer which wants to build a controversial overhead power line through Carmarthenshire, councillors have been told.

Dyfed Pension Fund invests in a range of products, has assets exceeding £3.4 billion, and has members including Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion councils.

The committee which oversees it had been asked to look at whether the fund could withdraw from an investment in an energy group called Bute Energy Ltd.

Power line

This was because a developer called Green GEN Cymru, whose parent company is the same as Bute Energy’s, wants to build a 97km power line from mid Wales along the Towy Valley to a grid substation south of Carmarthen.

The power line plan is meeting stiff resistance from many landowners and residents, who want the cables buried underground rather than carried on pylons.

The request to the Dyfed Pension Fund committee also asked if the fund, and any if its partners, could talk to Bute Energy and Green GEN Cymru to press for a full evaluation of the cost of burying the cables via a technique called cable-ploughing.

This method is claimed to be cheaper, faster and less disruptive than conventional open-trench burial.

Separate entity

A report before the committee, which met on November 11, said the fund has invested £3.4 million of the £10 million it pledged to a Bute Energy subsidiary called Bute Energy Development Holdings Ltd.

The report said the investment – part of a £70 million commitment from a group of Welsh public sector pension funds – was “exclusively limited to a portfolio of 16 onshore wind projects” and could only be used for this purpose.

It said while Green GEN Cymru’s grid projects were owned by the same parent company as Bute Energy’s, Green GEN Cymru was a separate entity, and its grid projects were “specifically carved out of” the £70 million investment.

The report also said the pension fund had no mechanism to exit its £10 million contribution and had to pay the full amount.

Advice had been given at the time by an energy asset manager called Capital Dynamics.

“Before making a final investment recommendation, Capital Dynamics conducted comprehensive due diligence, covering legal, technical, financial, and reputational aspects,” it said.

The report didn’t appear to broach the subject of whether the fund could engage with Bute Energy or Green GEN Cymru about cable-ploughing costs.

The committee didn’t discuss or debate the report before approving its findings.

It will now be referred back to the group which had made the initial request – Dyfed Fund Pension board – via one of its employer representatives, Carmarthenshire Council’s cabinet member of resources, Cllr Alun Lenny.