Written by Pete Bevington
Plans to build a massive wind farm in Shetland took a “significant” step
forward this week when the government agreed to speed up the timetable for
making the project viable.
Both UK and Scottish governments have put their full weight behind cutting
the cost of exporting electricity from the isles.
UK energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey said Westminster would
bring forward the setting of the minimum “strike” price for renewable
energy generated in the isles from next year to July this year.
To do this, Westminster is applying to the European Union for state aid
approval to allow a lower strike price for the isles to be introduced as
soon as possible.
These measures should allow the Viking wind farm and other island-based
renewable projects to progress to the next stage of putting together an
investment package.
The estimated cost of the 103-turbine Viking wind farm, a joint development
between Shetland Charitable Trust, Scottish and Southern Energy and local
businessmen, is currently £750 million.
However the future of the development, the third largest in Scotland, still
hangs on a decision by the UK Supreme Court over an appeal by campaign
group Sustainable Shetland against the planning consent granted in April
2012 by Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing.
A decision on the legal action is not expected before the end of this month.
Following this week’s meeting of the Scottish Island Renewables Delivery
Forum in Edinburgh, Ewing repeated that connecting the Scottish islands to
the national grid was “a top priority”.
He said: “I have made connecting the Scottish islands a top priority
because of the enormous clean and affordable energy potential, but also
because of the substantial opportunity for island communities to benefit.”
Northern isles MP and Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael said reaching
an agreement would require a joint effort between governments, the
regulator and the private sector.
“I am optimistic that we will see progress on these issues in the near
future,” he said.
Viking Energy development manager Aaron Priest described this week’s
meeting as “very significant”.
He said: “This is another important step for the delivery of substantial
benefits to Shetland via the unique community ownership that exists in the
Viking wind farm project.”
The Viking wind farm will require a £600 million subsea interconnector to
export its electricity to the UK national grid.
Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission has just started work on the £1.2
billion connector across the Moray Firth, which will connect with the
Shetland cable if it goes ahead.
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