News / A triumph for the Shetland community
SHETLAND News can exclusively reveal this morning (Thursday) that Sustainable Shetland has at long last taken the hand outstretched to them by Viking Energy.
Allan Wishart, project coordinator of Viking Energy said: “This is indeed a historic moment. In the past we have asked Sustainable Shetland repeatedly to come to the negotiating table, and now we have succeeded.
“This is not only a triumph for Viking Energy; it is a triumph for the entire Shetland community.”
Two weeks ago the windfarm developers and the local anti-windfarm group were locked in bitter combat in a bid to win the hearts and minds of Shetlanders young and old.
But a breakthrough in technology that will make the proposed 540 megawatt wind farm invisible has now brought about a wind of change in community relationships.
Mr Wishart said: “We’ve always been aware that the size and number of turbines were a contentious issue and no expense was spared to resolve this problem.
“As this is a commercially sensitive issue, I obviously can’t mention a precise figure. All I can say is that over the past four months VE has worked in close cooperation with AMRC (American Military Research Centre) and NASA on their HADES (Greek for ‘the unseen’) programme.”
Sustainable Shetland chairman Billy Fox said the Viking Energy project desperately needed some “magical input in the form of an invisibility cloak” before it could work.
“I’ve had a good look at this, and extrapolated all the relevant figures. It is astonishing to what length Viking Energy has had to go to make this project fit into the Shetland environment.
“My only fear is that elaborate US military technology might prove too expensive for Shetland Charitable Trust,” Mr Fox said.
Rumours that the European Commission was planning to impose an outright ban on accessing any area of blanket bog anywhere in Europe due to the habitat’s valuable characteristic as a carbon sink were last night dismissed by Viking Energy as just that.
Viking Energy and Sustainable Shetland are now jointly hosting an open day at the Burradale Windfarm on Easter Sunday, 4 April, where the HADES stealth device is going to be demonstrated between 3.30 and 4.30pm.
The opening ceremony takes place at 1.30pm and starts with Allan Wishart and Billy Fox cutting the invisible ribbon, followed by a champagne reception for invited guests only.
Mother and toddler groups all over Shetland have been busy weaving a 25 by 12 foot mat from heather, sphagnum moss and peat.
At 3pm there will be a ceremonial laying down of the mat by Sustainable Shetland’s Kevin Learmonth and Viking Energy chairman Bill Manson at the entrance to the Burradale Windfarm, so all visitors can wipe their carbon footprints.
The Burradale site will then be open to the public from 5.30 until 7pm (no admission without photo ID).
Amongst the many attractions organised for the day are mast climbing and burrow pit digging competitions, floating road rides, hard hat painting, gathering Easter eggs in a giant SSE basket, and hot-air ballooning.
It is understood that top brass from both organisations are now preparing a ceremony in Lerwick Town Hall where a friendship agreement will be signed.
Rumours that Sustainable Shetland had been offered a sizable share in Viking Energy could not be confirmed last night.
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