GLASGOW: The UK utility Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) will develop a plan to build a 90sq.km wind farm on the Shetland Islands. The 200-turbine wind farm will generate about 600MW of power – enough to meet the needs of one fourth of Scottish homes.
SSE's partner in the green power project is Shetland Islands Council, represented by Viking Energy. The windmills will be built on an area measuring 90sq.km near Vidlin village in Shetland mainland, a spokesperson for Viking Energy said.
The project will mean laying a sea-bed cable linking mainland Scotland with Shetland Islands. The group will have to obtain permission for the project from the Island residents for which they will carry out “a significant public consultation exercise, beginning in February” a Viking Energy spokesperson said.
When completed it would be the world's largest community wind farm bringing £20m a year in revenues for Shetland Islanders. It would also make the UK a world leader in renewable power generation calling for global efforts to cut carbon emission.
Developed nations are increasingly under moral pressure to slash carbon emissions from their industrial and energy plants as well as from automobile tail-pipe exhaust. Scientists have warned that average global temperatures have been rising as a result of unchecked carbon emission from burning fossil fuels.
SSE chairman Sir Robert Smith said the renewable energy project would merit recognition also as the world's first “in terms of scale, the richness of the natural resources being harnessed and the involvement of the local community”.
Sir Robert is optimistic that the project is certain to “become a reality”. The geographical features of Shetland Islands known as one of the windiest places on earth, would ensure the turbines keep running 50 percent of the time. Mainland power generation plants are required to keep turbines running to maintain the average load factor of between 30 and 35 percent.
SSE would own a 50 percent stake in the project. The utility has already received approval for a 36MW wind farm project in Toddleburn from the Scottish Borders Council. This 12-turbine farm will cost £40 m and would be ready to generate power by 2009.
