Benvironment

Picture the scene.

You’ve been invited to a function in Chelsea, west London, marking the 70th anniversary of the Council of Christians and Jews.  It’s a prestigious affair because the Queen and her husband, Prince Phillip the Duke of Edinburgh, will be guests of honour.

You’re ‘playing the room’, milling about and engaging in conversation with other guests, meeting new people, perhaps having discussions about your field of expertise once you find out what one another does.  It’s formal but it’s pleasant enough.  A nice way to try and rally people to your cause if you have one.

Then all of a sudden you find yourself stood next to the Duke of Edinburgh.  Hmm, how often do you find yourself in THAT situation?  Is it worth trying to strike up a conversation?  It’s bound to be frank and possibly entertaining……but heavens it’d be nerve-wracking and intimidating.  But hey, what’s the worst that could happen?  Yep, go for it!

That’s the situation that Esbjorn Wilmar, of Infinergy, which builds and operates wind turbines in the UK found himself in this week.  He introduced himself to the Duke and, one assumes, promptly wished he hadn’t.

As soon as Prince Phillip found out that Mr Wilmar was in the onshore wind industry he launched into a supposedly sustained verbal assault on that industry.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Wilmar said the Duke had called windfarms:

“absolutely useless, completely reliant on subsidies and an absolute disgrace”

Wilmar said he tried to muster a response but was greeted with the argument that wind power will always need a back-up base-load to keep the lights on, followed by the wonderful line:

“You don’t believe in fairy tales do you?’”

You have to feel sorry for Mr Wilmar really, who said “I was surprised by his very frank views.”  But he really should have done his homework shouldn’t he?  Anyone in this country knows full well what they’re likely to get if they engage in conversation with HRH.

The surprise expressed by Mr Wilmar funnily enough highlights the nature of the onshore industry though, in that it isn’t really a UK-owned one.  Most of the wind developments in the UK are owned by foreign companies, with the profits leaving these shores.  Wilmar is Dutch.  So I suppose the bigwigs in those companies aren’t as likely to have been entertained by the Duke’s frankness over the years.  Hmm.

Mr Wilmar said one of the main reasons the Duke thought onshore wind farms to be “a very bad idea” was their reliance on subsidies, which have resulted in landowners looking to build wind farms on their estates, including the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen’s cousin.

Prince Philip isn’t a fan.  Neither is his son, Prince Charles, who has refused to have large scale windfarms erected on any of his land.  Mr Wilmar persisted however, digging his hole, ending with a suggestion to the Duke that he could put wind turbines on his estate.  Prince Phillip responded with the suitably dismissive swipe:

‘You stay away from my estate young man!’.

Can’t help laughing, really.

I’m sure we’d all love to hear HRH’s thoughts on the encounter but a spokesman for the Duke said that Buckingham Palace would not comment about a private conversation.

Awww.

See other recent blog entries about windfarms.