Proven Energy in Liquidation

Posted on 16 September 2011 by Scottish-Sceptic

I know there is a temptation to see all windmill producers as part of the great evil of “green energy” global warming scam. However, having worked with Proven engineering I can vouch that Proven Engineering was not part of the wind energy scam, at least while I knew them. This was a hard working company built up by one person (and his wife) at a time when wind energy was not at all attractive to the politicians as a photogenic backdrops.
If anything Proven were very much “shafted” by BIG WIND whose only ambition was to get government to give us much money as possible to them for nothing else than buying a few foreign windmills, getting their engineers to come and erect them, then sitting back in their London clubs and rolling in the money. Proven were quite definitely the outsiders, tolerated because it helped spread the lie of “wind jobs” but otherwise ignored or worse: ostracised for reminding everyone that there were jobs in BIG WIND just not in Scotland.
His customers were small farmers, crofters and various other small landholdings who e.g. were too far from the grid or high energy users and with enough wind could recoup the cost of the windmill through the electricity they paid. This wasn’t the money grabbing profiteers of big wind, this was a small Scottish company actually making a success without government (much) support. And there is no doubt his product was considered the most robust windmill on the market, literally proven in the Scottish climate.

Companies have to earn a living. Some companies build phone masts, some build pylons, and some build windmills, and it is far far better that those who supply those products are based in Scotland rather than like BIG WIND, they are foreign companies draining Scotland dry.
So, despite the fact I have grown to hate the BIG WIND windmills that litter our landscape, I was still proud of my small part working with Proven on their control circuitry. Back in those days, they were a great bunch, I used to love visiting the workshop because it was just the kind any engineer would love, full of massive machinery, the smell of oil and people with a passion for their work.
And, to be honest I can’t think of a worse time for them to go bust. It really does show the absurdity of Alex Salmonds “Green Job’s” strategy. Wind does not great jobs … or at least BIG WIND doesn’t create jobs, the economic drain reduced the jobs in Scotland not to mention the hit on tourism. But, at least small wind … windmills like Proven, they used to create jobs … before Proven went bust, now Scotland is back to being a total basket case on Green jobs.

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7 Responses to Proven Energy in Liquidation

  1. lapogus says:
    17 September 2011 at 07:57

    I very much agree – I too detest what big wind is doing to Scotland’s landscapes but I have no problem at all with small scale wind turbines like Proven’s in off-grid locations and even many on-grid locations. If I lived in Orkney or Barra I would probably have one, with or without the subsidies. Until reading the post by the original designer’s son (over at Bishop Hill), I didn’t appreciate that Proven’s products were such a clever (but simple) design and far superior to the enormous rigid subsidy collectors which now litter our landscape. As you say, the demise of Proven, who have a good products, ideal for Scottish conditions, without significant adverse visual impact, makes an absolute mockery of the SNP’s claims for these 130,000 green jobs.

  2. futureboy says:
    17 September 2011 at 09:54

    Satah Palin’s recent condemnation of crony capitalism seems apt here. It is the nature of the beast that the bosses of large companies will have more access to ministers and much more money to invest as party donors, future employers of civil servants and politicians etc.A government which spends over 50% of all the money in the country cannot avoid crony capitalists in the same way a dung heap cannot help attracting flies.

  3. graham bate says:
    29 September 2011 at 13:17

    All very commendable but where does it now leave (including myself) the 600 odd customers who wanted to buy British and spent £ 60,000 each to buy a P35-2 turbine and now find these turbines have no warranty and have a design fault which is probably not economically possible to repair?.

  4. Scottish Sceptic says:
    29 September 2011 at 13:38

    I’m sorry, it appears you have a warranty which isn’t worth anything.
    All I can say is that at a push I might be able to repair the control boards as I used to make them for Proven, but they could have completely changed.
    Seriously, my first port of call would be to talk to Hugh Piggot of Scoraig Wind Energy because he has dealt with a lot of Proven machines and will know a lot of other people in a similar position.
    Unfortunately, I’ve now discovered from Hugh Piggot of Scoraig Wind Energy that there literally is no place to get spares at the moment.
    Worse still people who bought the machines even if they could run them, they can’t get the feed in tariff as the machine will not be certified.
    As for Gordon Proven I understand he got Motor Neuron disease and sold up to Venture capitalists who put £11million into it and that is no doubt why the company failed: time served engineering was replaced by get-rich quick venture money

  5. David Skinner says:
    30 September 2011 at 21:17

    Testing 123

  6. Julian Pearson says:
    3 November 2011 at 19:40

    I spent years researching the best, and literally now I have the funds, the land, and the planning consent (which was model specific) I find that the company has folded!.. lets hope that Kingspan can get installations certified.and supply the models

  7. neilcraig says:
    4 November 2011 at 16:44

    Julian note that if you have a 40 year guarantee that it will work that is worthless if the complany doesn’t last 40 years andif Salmond gives a guarantee that the English will pay the subsidy for the next 40 years that is worthless if we become independent (or if the UK government becomes sane).

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