Dale Vince

Dale Vince (born 29 August 1961) is a British green energy industrialist.

A former New Age traveller, he is the owner of the electricity company Ecotricity.

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.

While 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.

They separated some years later, and Wyatt reportedly raised the couple's son largely alone thereafter.

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" ) and, in 1995, he founded the Renewable Energy Company.

They divorced in 1992.

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.

In 1996, he launched his first wind turbine supplying "green electricity".

Vince was appointed OBE in 2004 and received an honorary degree in 2013.

Vince 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".

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.

In 2010, Vince became a major shareholder of Forest Green Rovers FC, and three months later was appointed club chairman.

In February 2011, Rovers players were banned from eating red meat for health reasons, and a few weeks later the sale of all meat products was banned at the club's ground, leaving only vegetarian options and free-range poultry and fish from sustainable stocks.

Vince introduced a number of different eco-friendly developments at the club including the installation of solar panels on its New Lawn home ground, the use of a solar-powered robot grass mower, and the creation of the world's first organic football pitch.

After 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".

In 2013, he was given the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Gloucestershire.

He is a vegan.

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.

In October 2015, Forest Green became the world's first all vegan football club.

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.

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".

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.

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".

In a statement, Vince branded the court's decision as "mad".

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.

His net worth was last estimated at £107,000,000.

Vince 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.

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."

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.