Viking Energy to apply for new consent for 103-turbine wind farm in Scotland

Viking Energy, a joint venture between SSE and the Shetland community, has announced that it is applying to the Scottish Government to make a minor alteration to a consented 103-turbine wind farm, in order to be able to install the latest most efficient turbines on the market.

The wind farm is to be constructed in the central Mainland of Shetland, an archipelago in north-east Scotland, located 168km from the mainland. Viking Energy applied in 2010 to build 127 turbines, but 24 were removed by the Scottish Ministers when approving the project. 

Planning consent was granted in April 2012 but the decision was challenged by anti-wind farm campaigners. Their efforts failed and the consent was reaffirmed in February 2015.

The variation to the current planning consent seeks an increase in maximum tip height up to 10 metres, from 145m to 155m with a corresponding increase in the turbine hub height from 90 to 95m. The change is intended to ensure that the project keeps up with the latest turbine technology, which has advanced considerably since it was launched more than 10 years ago.

Use of powerful turbines of 4 MW or more would enable Viking Energy to increase its generation of renewable electricity to a level closer to its consented capacity of 457 MW, increasing the potential income to Shetland Charitable Trust, which owns 45% of the project.

A public exhibition of the plans is to be held on Tuesday 2nd October in Voe. The application to alter the project's consent will then be submitted to the Scottish Government’s Energy Consents Unit in Glasgow.

Viking Energy aims to enter the project in the 2019 round of the UK Government’s Contracts for Difference auction. The company plans to begin construction in 2020 with a view to completing the wind farm in 2024.