SIC set to receive more than £500k this year from hosting wind turbines on land

SHETLAND Islands Council (SIC) could receive an estimated £577,000 this financial year from SSE Renewables by hosting Viking wind farm turbines on its land.

SIC finance manager Paul Fraser confirmed that the council receives £177,000 per annum in basic land rent.

On top of this the council receives income based on production from the 103-turbine wind farm, and £400,000 is estimated for the 2025/26 financial year.

For the 2024/25 financial year the SIC received £277,000 in production-related income, although the wind farm only went live midway through the financial year.

The SIC owns the Busta Estate, which hosts 18 of the 103 turbines.

The council is one of 14 landowners who have long-term agreements with the wind farm developer.

Meeting papers from the SIC’s policy and resources committee in early December said that at the time of setting the local authority’s 2025/26 budgets there was a “high degree of uncertainty about the timing and value” of any production related payments the council might receive.

Therefore no provision was made for this income in the SIC’s 2025/26 budget, but it has since been added.