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Dale Vince
Dale Vince (born 29 August 1961) is a British green energy industrialist.[6] A former New Age traveller,[7] he is the owner of the electricity company Ecotricity.[8] Born in Norfolk, he founded the Renewable Energy Company in 1995 and launched his first wind turbine in 1996. He also creates artificial diamonds using carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and renewable energy. Vince became a major shareholder and chairman of semi-professional football club Forest Green Rovers in 2010, implementing eco-friendly initiatives and turning it into the world's first all-vegan football club. The team was recognised as the world's first carbon-neutral football club. At the end of the 2023–24 season, Forest Green Rovers were relegated back into non-league football. Vince was appointed OBE in 2004 and received an honorary degree in 2013. He faced a financial claim court case from his ex-wife, which was settled in 2016. Vince has donated to both the Labour Party and the Green Party and endorsed politicians from both parties in general elections. In 2022 his net worth was estimated at £107 million.[9] Early life and careerVince was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the second of three children to parents who ran a Fenland haulage firm. Leaving school at 15, he spent time as a New Age traveller.[10][11] When RAF Molesworth was chosen to become a base for the US Air Force's mobile nuclear armed Ground Launched Cruise Missile in 1980, Vince occupied the nuclear base in protest. And he was one of the new-age travellers at the Battle of the Beanfield at Stonehenge in the mid-1980s.[7] In 1991, he saw his first windfarm ("I thought, either I can carry on by myself with the windmill on my van, or I can get into the big stuff"[12]) and, in 1995, he founded the Renewable Energy Company.[10] In 1996, he launched his first wind turbine supplying "green electricity".[13] In October 2020, The Guardian reported that he plans to create artificial diamonds by chemical vapor deposition using "carbon dioxide captured directly from the atmosphere to form the diamonds – which are chemically identical to diamonds mined from the earth – using wind and solar electricity, with water collected from rainfall."[14] In April 2022, Vince announced he planned to sell Ecotricity and go into politics. He said part of the reason was that a new owner "can achieve even more, faster. We've got a massive pipeline of projects that need to be built requiring £2 billion of investment." As well as developing his interest in politics, he would focus on renewable projects such as tidal lagoons and geothermal energy.[15][16] Football.jpg) In 2010, Vince became a major shareholder of Forest Green Rovers FC,[17] and three months later was appointed club chairman.[18] In February 2011, Rovers players were banned from eating red meat for health reasons,[clarification needed] and a few weeks later the sale of all red meat products was banned at the club's ground, leaving only vegetarian options and free-range poultry and fish from sustainable stocks.[19] Vince introduced a number of different eco-friendly developments at the club including the installation of solar panels[20] on its New Lawn home ground, the use of a solar-powered robot grass mower,[21] and the creation of the world's first organic football pitch.[22] In September 2015, Vince revealed Forest Green were using a player recruitment method similar to the 'Moneyball' model that had been initially used in baseball to sign players by using computer-generated analysis.[23] In October 2015, Forest Green became the world's first all vegan football club.[24][25] In 2021, the team became the first in the world to play in a football kit made from a composite material consisting of recycled plastic and coffee grounds.[26] The United Nations has recognised Forest Green Rovers as the world's first carbon-neutral football club and it was described by FIFA as the "greenest team in the world".[26][27] In 2024, Forest Green lost their Football League status after suffering two successive relegations. HonoursVince was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2004 New Year Honours for "services to the Environment and to the Electricity Industry".[28] In 2013, he was given the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Gloucestershire.[29] Personal lifeWhile studying, Vince met and married Kathleen Wyatt, two years his senior and with a child of her own, in 1981. The couple subsequently became New Age travellers together, living off state benefits. They had a son together, Dane, in 1983.[30] They separated some years later, and Wyatt reportedly raised the couple's son largely alone thereafter. They divorced in 1992.[2] First divorce and financial claim court caseAfter Vince had made his fortune, Wyatt, who had lived what was later described in court as "16 years of real hardship", lodged a financial claim of £1.9 million against Vince in 2011, nearly 20 years after their divorce. The Court of Appeal rejected the claim, stating it had "no real prospect of success" and was an "abuse of process".[2] However, in March 2015 the Supreme Court set aside this decision, ruling that there was no time limit in law for claims for financial provision, and the claim could progress in the High Court.[31] Lord Wilson said the court must have regard "to the contribution of each party to the welfare of the family, including by looking after the home or caring for the family", but the claim only had a prospect of "comparatively modest success" with a £1.9 million payout "out of the question".[2] In a statement, Vince branded the court's decision as "mad". "I feel that we all have a right to move on, and not be looking over our shoulders. This could signal open season for people who had brief relationships a quarter of a century ago".[32] Prior to the case settlement, Vince paid the legal costs for both parties, of over £500,000, as divorce law permits costs to be charged to the combined resources of both parties.[31][33] In 2016, the case was settled when Vince agreed to pay £300,000 to Wyatt. He commented that the case had been "a terrible waste of time and money". He stated the settlement barely covered Wyatt's legal fees which he had already paid prior to the settlement. He then repeated his opinion that he was "...disappointed that the supreme court decided not to throw out the case, given it was brought over 30 years [sic] since the relationship ended" before adding, "There clearly needs to be a statute of limitations for divorce cases – a time limit beyond which a claim cannot be made. Such a thing exists in commercial law for good practical reasons."[34] Second marriage and divorceVince married Kate Lane, who worked at Ecotricity, in 2006; they have a son.[3] They divorced in 2024, and on 20 December 2024, the High Court ordered Dale Vince to pay Kate Vince £43.51 million over three annual installments in financial settlement related to his businesses, which he retained ownership off. The combined legal bill was about £6 million. Dale Vince stated he had offered £50 million in settlement earlier, and the rejection of that had resulted in numerous court hearings and acrimony with a smaller settlement. They had separated in 2022, and had previously divided their non-business assets, on a broadly equal basis of about £5 million each.[3][35] PoliticsVince has made donations to both the Labour Party and the Green Party.[13] Prior to the 2015 UK general election, he was one of several 'celebrities' who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party's Caroline Lucas.[36] He endorsed the Labour Party in the 2019 general election.[37] He has made donations to various Labour Party MPs, as well as environmental protest groups, such as Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.[38] Forest Green raised the Palestinian flag during a match in April 2022 "in solidarity with the Palestinian people". Vince said "Palestine has been under siege by Israel - by air land and sea, for decades. The US allows this, pumps billions into Israel to support its economy and military and uses its veto to block any meaningful action by the UN". He said the West's position in relation to Palestine "stands in stark contradiction to 'our' claims to moral superiority, civilization and democratic values". Vince has been described as "anti-Israel" and "anti-Zionist" by The Jerusalem Post, which wrote that he was using the club "as a means to promote his anti-Israel agenda".[39] On Times Radio, in the immediate aftermath of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Vince stated that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" when asked about Hamas. Angela Rayner said Vince's remark was "appalling". Vince said his remark was taken from a doctored video clip and that, in the same interview, he had agreed that Hamas were terrorists and Israel had a right to defend itself.[40] Dispute with GuidoFawkesThe website Guido Fawkes has written about Dale Vince. and on the 4th April 2024, he commenced a legal action against the Publisher under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 asking the High Court to block access to the Guido Website. The action concerns the reporting of comments he said on a radio station operated by. The Times. This was previously included in this Wikipedia entry, but was removed in an edit on 19th August 2024 by a user who is an employee of Dale Vinces company Ecotricity/ [1] References
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