Energy / Big prize on offer in offshore wind farm naming competition
PRIMARY school aged children are being encouraged to enter a competition to name a proposed offshore wind farm east of Shetland – with £1,250 worth of vouchers on offer for the winner.
The wind farm in question is the 500MW floating offshore development proposed by Irish energy company ESB.
It was part of Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind auction for offshore leases, with two other sites nearby also planned. It has previously held the name Sealtainn Offshore Wind Farm.
The competition will be open to all Shetland primary school aged children from 19 September and run to 8 October. People can apply here.
Judges will be looking for names related to local heritage, the sea, energy, sustainability, and/or the environment. Entries are limited to one per person.
In the case of multiple entries selecting the winning name, the first person to suggest the name will be the overall winner.
The winning entry of the naming competition will receive a £500 voucher for a local bookshop, a £500 voucher for a local toy shop and a £250 voucher for a local restaurant of their choosing.
All participants in the naming competition will also be invited to take part in an art competition in which a winner and runner-up will be selected across four age categories.
The art competition will be divided across four age categories.
Winners of each category will receive £50 vouchers for both a local toyshop and bookshop, while the runners-up will receive two £25 vouchers. The art competition will run from 9 October to 27 October.
The competitions will be judged by Cian Desmond (ESB), Andrew Cooper (former chair of the Shetland Charitable Trust), Valerie Nicolson (former headteacher of the Anderson High School) and Andrew Gear (Highland and Island Enterprise).
ESB project director Cian Desmond said: “The aim is for this offshore wind farm to start producing energy in the mid 2030s and continue to do so until at least 2060.
“The bright young minds of Shetland that we are calling on to name this farm are the very ones that will benefit most from its development.
“So, we are looking for creative and ambitious names which will help to secure the legacy of this critical piece of sustainable energy infrastructure.”
The launch of the naming competition coincides with representatives from ESB meeting members of the port authority, fishing community, fabricators, local government and industry representatives.
The company said that “through meetings such as this, and by continuously engaging with the local community, ESB will ensure that the wind farm is built and operated in a manner that maximises the social, economic, and environmental benefits for Shetland”.
In addition to the ESB development, the 2.3GW Arven offshore wind farm is being proposed east of Shetland by joint developers Mainstream Renewable Power and Ocean Winds.
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