News / Viking welcomes charging review
SHETLAND wind farm developer Viking Energy has welcomed news that energy regulator Ofgem is carrying out a review of its electricity transmission charges.
The review could lead to a drop in the cost of feeding renewable energy from the far north of Scotland into the national grid.
For years developers have complained that the current regime discriminated against remote areas where conditions for renewable energy production are more favourable.
In a statement, Ofgem said the current set-up had served the country well but as the country moved towards a low carbon economy the regulator needed to consider reform.
At present electricity generators located furthest from the centres of population pay the highest transmission charges, with Viking Energy facing a bill of more than £100 per kilowatt installed from its proposed 540 megawatt wind farm.
Viking project manager Aaron Priest said: “Everyone, including Ofgem, acknowledges Shetland has among the best wind and marine energy resources in Europe.
“A fit for purpose regulatory framework, to ensure the connection of those resources is now long overdue.
“The draft charges we potentially face are the highest in the UK and several times that of even the north of Scotland. Yet our project would deliver more units of cleaner greener electricity to consumers throughout Scotland than building the same wind farm anywhere else.
“If the UK is going to have any hope of achieving its ambitious renewable energy targets, which are necessary to move towards a low carbon future, then we need to unlock the incredible potential of places like Shetland. The existing charging regime is a major barrier.”
The Ofgem announcement was also welcomed by Shetland MSP Tavish Scott and first minister Alex Salmond.
Mr Scott said: “This Ofgem review at last recognises that the levels of transmission charges are fundamental to the future of renewable energy in Shetland.
“If we are to see the commercial wave generation off Shetland’s west coast, it will only happen if the cost of exporting power to the centres of population in the UK is affordable.
“The review must therefore look at how best to move the country’s energy industry away from nuclear to clean, green power.”
Addressing Ofgem’s Scottish dinner on Wednesday night, the first minister will say that the current system is “indefensible”.
Mr Salmond has called for the review to be “independent, objective and deliver fundamental and lasting change that will help to deliver Scotland’s energy future.”
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