The Financialisation, Marketisation & Privatisation of Renewable Energy

626 transactions in global renewable energy secondary market in 20 months cost US$289bn

Strategies for public ownership

Dexter Whitfield ESSU Research Report No. 12

Global Trade in Renewable Energy Assets ______

This report is based on the ESSU Global Renewable Energy Secondary Market Transactions Database, 2020.

October 2020

See also:

Further Investigation of ’s renewable energy projects

Revealed: Scottish wind farms owned in tax havens, Rob Edwards, The Ferret – an independent non-profit media cooperative in Scotland set up to investigate stories in the public interest – has drawn on the evidence in the ESSU report and reported the views of the Tax Justice Network, Friends of the Earth, Community Energy Scotland, Scottish Labour, Scottish Greens and the Scottish Government who are all critical of tax evasion in Scotland’s renewable energy projects.

The same article under the title of Ventient Energy: Scottish wind firm under fire over alleged tax avoidance was published in the Sunday National, 22 November 2020.

Dexter Whitfield, Director Adjunct Associate Professor, Australian Industrial Transformation Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide Mobile +353 (0)87 7055509 Tel. +353 (0)66 7130225 Email: [email protected] Web: www.european-services-strategy.org.uk

The European Services Strategy Unit is committed to social justice, by the provision of good quality public services by democratically accountable public bodies. The Unit continues the work of the Centre for Public Services, which began in 1973. Research and strategic advice for public bodies, trade unions and community organisations include analysis of regional/city economies and public sector provision, jobs and employment strategies, impact assessment and the effects of marketisation, privatisation, public private partnerships and transformation.

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Global Trade in Renewable Energy Assets ______

Contents

Abbreviations Introduction 5 Summary of findings 7

Part 1: Renewable energy secondary market Research objectives Political economy of the secondary market Key participants Comparison with the PPP secondary market Existence of secondary market marginalised The case against a secondary market The ESSU Global Renewable Energy Secondary Market Database 2019-2020

Part 2: Tracking the transactions 16 Concentration of transactions Global dimensions of the renewable energy transactions Dominant role of private equity funds Wide use of tax havens A US bank, private equity and infrastructure funds, tax havens and renewable energy companies Estimated cost of the 626 transactions to date Limited role of the public sector in renewable energy Role of governments and international agencies in developing economies

Part 3: The case for public investment, ownership and operation 26 The need for publicly owned and operated renewable energy generation Widening the scope and powers in regulatory frameworks Need for national coordination Re-examine the state-owned corporation model Pension fund investment increased in renewable energy

Appendix: Limited role of the public sector in the renewable energy secondary market 29 between 1 January 2019 and 31 August 2020

References

Figures 1. Global market in the sale and purchase of renewable energy assets 2. Few major companies publicly owned

Tables 1. Global overview of renewable energy transactions in 20 months 2. Concentration of transactions in key countries 3. Transactions by private equity funds 4. Transactions by major utility and petroleum companies 5. Infrastructure and private equity fundraising in 2020 6. Use of tax havens in renewable energy transactions 7. A, B and C - Transactions involving government, state and municipal owned renewable energy companies between 1 January 2019 and 31 August 2020

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