Community / ‘Every community in Shetland should be able to do what we have done’
A visit to North Yell gives an insight into the transformational power of owning a small wind farm
All photos: Hans J Marter/Shetland News
IT’S TUESDAY lunchtime in Cullivoe and the local hall slowly fills with elderly couples, parents with young children, men in work gear and the odd visitor to the community.
There is laughter and plenty of banter, and delicious smells coming from the kitchen area.
Today it’s minestrone for starters, chicken with chips or vegetarian pizza for main course followed by tea and coffee with cake – all paid for by the North Yell Development Council (NYDC).
There are usually between 60 and 70 people out of a community of around 160 attending the weekly lunchtime club; a hugely beneficial community event that started after Covid and has since taken on a life on its own thanks to money generated by the community-owned Garth wind farm overlooking the village.
Had the people of North Yell let an external company come in and develop the wind farm, the annual payback in terms of community benefit would have been a mere £22,500.
“That wouldn’t even have funded our lunch club,” says Alice Mathewson, NYDC’s development manager, as she sums up the success story she is about to tell.
Recruited four years ago, she brings a wealth of expertise to the job, having worked for Andrew Blackadder Associates for 15 years and at Shetland Seafood Quality Control thereafter.
It is thanks to the foresight and tenacity of the local community that a locally-owned wind farm remained not just an idea, but became a viable project that negotiated countless hurdles and eventually succeeded in attracting the necessary finance of £8 million – and also secured the all-important connection to the local grid.
After 13 years of planning and negotiating, the go-ahead for the 4.5MW wind farm was finally received in September 2016. The five Enercon turbines became operational the following year, and have since generated renewable energy for the grid and cash for the community.
And so, Garth is today often quoted as the prime example for the benefits a community-owned wind farm project can bring. However if rules over access to grid connection do not change Garth will remain an example that is unlikely to be replicated elsewhere, Mathewson says.
And that is despite recent studies which have shown Garth and other small schemes elsewhere are able the generate up to 100 times more financial return for communities than the voluntary community benefit payments of £5,000 per megawatt corporate developers of large projects are expected to pay.
“The wind farm has given us security and certainty of income going forward,” Mathewson said, adding that she regards the £5,000 figure as “peanuts” that urgently needs to be upped.
“It costs around £1 million a year to run, and once we get past that figure, everything beyond that can be returned to the community and invested in its future.”
The list of investments is long and impressive: the extension on the community-owned business park at the Cullivoe Pier, a large marina, a first investment in creating community owned housing, the purchase of the local shop, polycrubs for a community growing area and an electric community vehicle.
There is also the above-mentioned lunch club, and a voucher scheme this coming Christmas that will provide £200 credit at the local shop to every household in North Yell to help alleviate (fuel) poverty. In addition, there is financial support for various projects outside the area but of benefit to North Yell residents such as youth clubs and sport grants.
The sustainable income from the wind farm has enabled NYDC also to bid for outside money when other organisations are unable to put forward the required match funding.
NYDC has also purchased one of the two buildings at the Sellafirth Industrial Estate, which stood empty for three years, and is currently awaiting a decision from the Scottish Government on a grant application for almost £300,000 to make the building carbon neutral. The council has already pledged £25,000, while NYDC put forward £50,000 of its own money.
Should that get the go-head, the plan is for the new community hub to open sometime in spring next year.
That would offer space for local businesses, including hot desking and room for NYDC’s own staff, a shop retailing local arts and crafts, exhibition space, a local audio and video archive as well as a service point for tourists.
“We are going to have a tourist information place; we don’t care if they are not sexy anymore, we think they are necessary,” Mathewson said.
What becomes obvious when visiting the community is the momentum and drive that has been generated, with several projects being pursued at the same time.
Mathewson said “continuity and the certainty of financial security” was key to their success, something that is hardly ever available to community development organisations when funding often hinges on 12 or 18-month contracts.
“What you need to have behind you is to know that your organisation and your job will be there so that you can push through these projects,” she said.
“Half of the time a feasibility study has been done and then sits on a shelf as there is no-one to take it forward.
“That is one of the things the [Viking wind farm funded] Shetland Community Benefit Fund should be looking at for areas in Shetland that have no sustainable community development groups.
“The only two in Shetland that are sustainable are North Yell and Northmavine, because they have a sustainable income.”
Mathewson added: “At the moment nobody in Shetland can replicate what has been done by the North Yell community in terms of Garth, because there is no grid access and that doesn’t look likely to change anytime soon, and that is a shame.
“We only have a very small portion of the renewable energy development that has been done in Shetland – we are one per cent of Viking – and look what we have been able to do with that.
“I wish that every community in Shetland had the ability to be able to develop something like Garth – if they so wish – and that would not take away a great deal from the big boys.”
Earlier this month, Community Energy Scotland (CES) published recommendations for a fair energy deal for Scottish communities for political parties to adopt in the run up to the 2026 parliamentary elections. It can be found here.
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