‘A sad day for many’

The announcement of the completion of Viking wind farm and inter-connector project with an official switch on to follow next week is a sad day for many people now forced to live in close proximity to it.

We hoped that we would never see this day and that a more rational approach to energy supply would ensure that more reliable and cheaper forms of energy would be supported instead.

SSE celebrates completion of Viking Energy wind farm

The impact of this wind farm on our landscape is plain for all to see and the environmental damage caused by its construction is very concerning.

The news this week that Viking is already earning constraint payments indicates that SSE’s main motivation for this wind farm is money. Under the smokescreen of renewable energy, the main driver for Viking has always been this.

It is very depressing to read SSE’s future plans for Shetland. One would think that they have assumed total control here, just like a dictatorship.

Benefits to Shetland will be minimal; this is all about profits for SSE and their shareholders. Shetlanders will rue the day that the Shetland Islands Council became involved with SSE as a temporary business partner all those years ago.

It remains to be seen if health issues emerge when the wind farm is fully operational. Even in the commissioning phase there has been an official complaint about noise from the turbines. The only consolation is that the turbines may be off for a significant amount of time when the power from Viking cannot be accommodated on the energy network.

However, we are where we are, and we now have a wind farm where the construction costs must make it one of the most expensive onshore windfarms anywhere, if the costs of connecting it to the energy network are included.

These costs will eventually be recouped from energy consumers in the form of higher bills. Renewable energy does not come cheap, regardless of government assurances to the contrary.

In spite of SSE’s best efforts with ‘sweeteners’ and glossy brochures the Viking Energy wind farm is despised by many in the communities affected.

Viking wind farm is likely to remain controversial for a long time into the future.

Frank Hay
Chair
Sustainable Shetland

See also:

SSE claims £2m in constraint payments as ‘consumers pay to keep the Viking wind farm idle’

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